Monday, April 18, 2022

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Using an eagle on the 17th hole to vault into the lead, Simon Fraser sophomore Natasha Kozlowski tops the leaderboard after the first round of the GNAC Women’s Golf Championships at the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course. carded a 4-over-par 75 over the first 18 holes.

Kozlowski carded a 4-over-par 75 over the first 18 holes. She shot even-par 36 over the back nine in Monday’s round, with three bogeys balanced out by a birdie on 15 and the eagle on 17, which was the only eagle of the round.

Kozlowski has a one-stroke lead over a trio of competitors in SFU teammate Shirin Anjarwalla and a pair of Western Washington golfers in sophomores Dani Bailey and Elise Sumner, who all shot 5-over-par 76. Simon Fraser’s Estee Leung and Claire Lovan, WWU’s Megan Billeter and Northwest Nazarene’s Hannah Holloway are tied for fifth at 77.

“I think things went pretty well,” Kozlowski said. “I got off to a little bit of a slow start and then bounced back on the back nine and made a couple good putts. I was hitting it really well all day and had to stay a bit patient and wait on some good things to happen to me.”

Billeter, no stranger to hot starts after tying the GNAC record-low with a 68 in her first round of the year back in September, held the lead early in the day, shooting even-par over the front nine after birdieing the eighth and ninth holes. Leung also spent some time in the lead during a blistering middle section in which she tallied four birdies between the sixth and 11th holes. Billeter and Leung shared the tournament lead with four birdies during their opening rounds.

The performances of Kozlowski, Anjarwalla and Leung enabled Simon Fraser to take a two-stroke lead over the Vikings in the team competition at the halfway mark. As a team, Simon Fraser is at 21-over-par 305 with Western Washington second at 307. The two schools combined for seven of the top eight on the leaderboard after the first round and both programs have all four scoring golfers within two strokes of the lead.

“Both teams had a pretty solid day today,” Kozlowski said. “For ourselves, we all have a bit of momentum going into tomorrow and we all have things we know we can improve on. We want to use our momentum and build on what we did today.”

Led by Holloway, Northwest Nazarene sits 10 strokes out of second at 317, followed by Montana State Billings at 326 and Saint Martin’s at 333.

The Yellowjackets of MSUB are paced by senior Kinsey Irvin, one of three golfers tied for ninth at 7-over-par 78. Irvin saved a rocky opening five holes with a remarkable run of 12 consecutive pars from the sixth hole through the 17th hole. Irvin’s 13 total pars in her round were tied for the tournament high along with teammate Tierney Messmer, who is tied for 12th at 8-over-par 79.

Saint Martin’s is led by senior Katherine Swor, who is in 14th place after carding a 10-over-par 81. Senior Kathryn Crimp, the tournament’s defending champion, is tied for 19th after shooting an 84. Three of the top six finishers from last year’s tournament – Bailey, Sumner and WWU’s Sarah Shea, tied for ninth at 7-over-par 78 – are in this year’s top 10 after one round.

The final women’s round is scheduled to begin Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. Live leaderboards are available at GNACSports.com. Follow @GNACSports on social media for potential weather updates and video from the tournament.