Ports leading Grizzlies through 36 holes

Montana senior Raina Ports shot rounds of 72 and 71 on Monday as the two-day Yellowstone Intercollegiate opened at Riverside Country Club in Bozeman.

At 1-under through 36 holes, Ports is tied for eighth in the 66-golfer field. Ports had seven birdies on Monday, six bogeys.

Ten players broke par overall, with nine more golfers at even or 1-over. Montana State junior Eva Heinz leads the field at 9-under after opening with a 62 in Round 1.

"The greens are really soft, so you can fire at pins. If you're hitting the ball well, you can take it right at the pin and give yourself tons of birdie looks," said coach Jimmy Mee.

"If you know how far your scoring clubs fly, it's just point and shoot, and you're going to have tons of opportunities."

Ports, who opened at No. 13 for both rounds, had five of her seven birdies on the course's back nine and was under par for a majority of her two rounds.

"Raina was Raina. She did what she does," said coach Jimmy Mee. "She hits it in the fairway and gives herself a lot of opportunities. She is just so consistent."

Montana shot rounds of 314 and 300 and sits in 10th place out of 11 teams. Montana State (282-285), CSU Northridge (289-286) and Gonzaga (288-289) sit atop the leaderboard.

"Most of the teams here have played at least once, and it's our first event of the year, so I figured we'd have some competitive jitters," said Mee.

"That played a role, especially with some of our younger players. It's a big step going from high school golf to college golf."

Freshman Katie Lewis (78-74) and sophomore Salina Lui (77-76), both competing as individuals, are tied for 36th and tied for 39th, respectively.

Lewis is competing in her first collegiate tournament, Lui is competing in a college event for the first time since the spring of 2023 when she played at Utah Tech.

Lewis was 6-over through her first six holes on Monday. She played her final 30 holes at 2-over. "She did a great job battling back," said Mee. "She is a competitor and she grinds.

"I don't know if she could feel her hands the first six holes she was so nervous. Then she was like, you know what, this is just golf. I'm going to do what I do."

Lui had five birdies on the day, second only to Ports' seven. "She did an awesome job of battling back as well," said Mee.

"I have to remind myself that it's been a couple years since she's been in this kind of competitive environment. You forget because of how mature she is and how she carries herself."

Hannah Ports (79-77) is tied for 51st, Bella Johnson (79-80) is tied for 57th, Hope Torres (84-77) is tied for 60th, Kate Bogenschutz (87-75) is in 62nd and Anna Stensrud (79-84) is tied for 63rd.

The tournament concludes with 18 holes on Tuesday.

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Kate Bogenschutz

Bella Johnson

Katie Lewis

Salina Lui

Hannah Ports

Raina Ports

Anna Stensrud

Hope Torres

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