Friday, October 24, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. - The Western Washington women’s golf team finished second at the Sonoma State Invitational at Rohnert Park, Calif. Monday and Tuesday.

This is the third time this fall that the Vikings have finished in the top five in a tournament.

Western had a strong opening day Monday, posting a 296. That score led the field and tied for the best one-day score the Vikings have had this season.

Only one of the five golfers from WWU improved on their first-round scores however, but the Vikings still produced well enough to earn the second-place finish.

Freshman Jenn Paul continued the great start to her Viking career, tying for third place and earning GNAC Golfer of the Week honors.

Paul led the field after shooting a 70 on day one before falling to a third-place tie, shooting a 78 on the second day.

Paul finishes the fall season as the GNAC’s top golfer, averaging a low of 74.0 in her nine rounds.

Anna Bourland and Brooke Branigan shot identical 75-80 scores to tie for 17th. Kristen Hansen tied for 19th as she finished one stroke behind Bourland and Branigan and last week’s Player of the Week Audrey Orem tied for 30th.

Simon Fraser also competed on Monday and Tuesday at the Vikes Shootout in British Columbia.

SFU was right with the leaders after the first round, shooting a 319 which was only four strokes off from the frontrunners.

The second round was largely the opposite of the first for many of the golfers however as three of the five teams competing had significantly worse scores. SFU added on 23 strokes to finish in third place in the two-round tournament.

The Clan’s Kylie Jack led the team, tying for seventh with a two-round score of 160. Her 77 in the opening round was her low-round score of the year.

Four other of the Clan’s golfers shot their low rounds of the fall season in the first round as well.

Erin Farner opened with an 83 while Jennifer McTeer shot an 84 in their second tournament. The two finished in 21st and 22nd respectively.

Playing in their first tournament of the fall was Michelle Waters and Rochelle Rezansoff who finished second and third among the Clan and 17th and 18th overall. The two had first-round scores of 78 and 81.

These two tournaments wrapped up the GNAC 2014 women’s fall golf season. The next time golfers will be in action is on Feb. 23 when Northwest Nazarene participates in the Cal Baptist Invitational in California.