Griz head to Arizona for pair of tournaments

The Montana women's golf team will kick off the championship month of April this week, starting a sprint to the season's finish.

The Grizzlies will compete at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic this week, the Bobcat Desert Classic next week, then return to Arizona for the Big Sky Championship, to be played April 14-16.

Three tournaments, three practice rounds, nine competitive rounds over a span of 15 days.

"Golf is crazy. Once you're out of the tournament reps, it takes a round or so to get the tournament jitters out of the way," said coach Jimmy Mee.

It's been an odd year for Montana. Rain and an improper pin placement forced two fall tournaments to go from 54 holes to 36. The Grizzlies' final event of the fall was canceled because of flooding.

The team's only 54-hole tournaments this year have been the Portland State Invitational in mid-October and the Bowling Green Intercollegiate in mid-February.

Montana's most recent tournament, the Red Rocks Invitational, opened on a Friday with half a round and concluded on Sunday with the completion of that round, an 18-hole tournament over three days.

Over six tournaments in the fall and spring, Montana has played just 13 competitive rounds.

Perhaps as a reward for those travails, the Grizzlies have been afforded the chance to practice the last two weeks outside, on actual Montana grass and golf courses in March, which isn't always the case.

"We were on grass for the entire week," Mee said on Friday. "We've gotten in some chipping, some putting, which should greatly help us be more consistent. We can get back to normal business."

The Wyoming Cowgirl Classic and Bobcat Desert Classic will be completed on a single-trip to Arizona.

Practice round on Tuesday, 54 holes on Wednesday and Thursday, practice round on Sunday, 54 holes next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Montana will go with a scoring fivesome of Raina Ports, Elle Higgins, Hannah Ports, Bella Johnson and Kate Bogenschutz. Kylie Franklin will compete as an individual in the two upcoming tournaments.

Higgins (76.00) and Raina Ports (76.46) continue to lead the Grizzlies in season scoring average for the fall and spring. Franklin will be competing for the first time since October.

Hannah Ports, with a 78, led Montana at the Red Rocks Invitational, her first time leading the Grizzlies this year, the second time she has done it in her career.

It will be a familiar close to the regular season, the fourth straight year Montana has gone from the Cowgirl Classic to the Desert Classic to the Big Sky Championship in short order.

The Grizzlies have competed in Wyoming's event almost annually since 2006-07. For the last decade it's been hosted at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa.

Fifteen teams are scheduled to compete in this year's event, including Eastern Washington, Northern Colorado and Sacramento State, the two-time defending Big Sky champion.

"Southern Dunes can be hard if the wind blows," said Mee. "It can be a tough golf course."

After playing 45 minutes south of Phoenix this week, the Grizzlies will migrate to Goodyear, due west of Phoenix, for the more forgiving course at the Golf Club of Estrella.

Last year at Estrella, Montana shot scores of 288, 300 and 298, the opening round matching the best score in program history.

"Both of these courses are pretty generous off the tee and a little bit longer," said Mee, whose team will compete at the Big Sky Championship at Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, next door to Goodyear.

"Estrella is not too hard. It will be nice to have that one on the back end, where we can get some confidence going, then go to Wigwam with some good, positive vibes."

This week's tournament will have 36 holes on Wednesday, 18 on Thursday, a 7:30 a.m. local start each day.

The Grizzlies will return to Montana after next week's Bobcat Desert Classic, a few days later go back to Arizona for the Big Sky Championship.

Montana hasn't cracked the top five at the Big Sky Championship since 2015.

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Players Mentioned

Kate Bogenschutz

Kylie Franklin

Elle Higgins

Bella Johnson

Hannah Ports

Raina Ports

University of Montana Athletics