Higgins pacing Grizzlies in Arizona

Elle Higgins opened the Montana golf team's spring season with a four-over 75, then added an 80 as the Bowling Green Intercollegiate got under way on Tuesday at Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, Ariz.

Higgins is tied for 24th in the 80-player field. Montana shot rounds of 320 and 314 and is in 11th place out of 14 teams.

Higgins birdied her first hole of the spring season, Wigwam's par-5 10th. She later eagled the par-5 18th and was 1-under through her first 11 holes before giving a handful of strokes back over the round's closing holes to come in at 75.

"She was driving it well, missing in the right spots and putting herself in good position off the tee," said assistant coach Jeff Allen. "She didn't hit as many putts as she wanted to but still hit a lot of good ones."

Higgins had more birdies in her second round, four of them, but also played 11 holes to bogey or worse as the winds picked up and the course dried out.

"It was a challenging day," said Allen. "The course is tough. The greens were firm, the wind was up, probably a little windier than we expected. That made the course get a little bit firmer throughout the day."

Hannah Ports, the only Grizzly with two rounds in the 70s, carded scores of 79 and 77 and is one stroke behind Higgins, tied for 27th.

Raina Ports (83-78) is tied for 54th, Kendall Hayward (87-79) is tied for 69th and Bella Johnson (83-85) is tied for 72nd.

"The green complexes are challenging. If you're a little bit off, it can get compounded pretty easily," said Allen. "I was happy with the way the girls kept battling throughout the day.

"I want us to take what we saw out there today and make some improvements tomorrow."

The tournament will conclude on Wednesday with a final round of 18 holes.

The top five teams in the standings are separated by a single stroke, setting up a potentially dramatic Wednesday.

UTEP (296-310) and Abilene Christian (302-304) are tied for first. One stroke back are Idaho (310-297), Weber State (292-315) and Northern Illinois (308-299).

Abilene Christian's Ryann Honea (72-72) leads the field by three strokes.

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Kendall Hayward

Elle Higgins

Bella Johnson

Hannah Ports

Raina Ports

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