Women’s Team
The Saint Xavier Cougar women’s golf team, still in its inaugural season, played the first matches of their spring season last Monday and Tuesday.
The opening of the spring season brought the team to Prescott, Ariz. They played in the Embry Riddle Invite at the Antelope Hills Golf Course.
The team finished the tournament in sixth place out of seven teams. Menlo College, which came in last, did not play the final round, however, and they had a better team score than the Cougars in the first round.
Regardless, the Cougars improved immensely on their first round play. After a first round team score of an even 400, Saint Xavier cut 41 strokes to get to 359.
Freshman Taylor Thompson was the best golfer for Saint Xavier. She tied for sixth individually for the tournament with rounds of 78 and 79.
Next was freshman Katie Reno, whose 89 and 86 earned her a tie for 21st place.
Freshman Courtney Dudgeon was the most improved player from day one to day two. She went from a 103 to a 79 to place 27th individually.
Fellow freshman Ashley Anderson placed 34th in the 35-player field with rounds of 130 and 115.
The women’s team’s next tournament is the Saint Francis (Ill.) Invite at Prairie Bluff Golf Course in Lockport. That tournament will be on March 28 and 29.
Men’s Team
The men’s team found some more success than the women’s team did.
The trip to Arizona concluded in a third-place finish.
They were just three strokes behind the second-place team, Arizona Christian University.
While the women improved from their first day to the second, the men added another five strokes to the team score on day two.
The men’s team only had one player in the individual top-10. Junior Kyle Bahnick went 72-76 to earn a tie for ninth place.
The other three players with qualifying team scores were closely grouped. Senior James Kerr shot a 73 and a 77 for an 11th place tie.
Fellow senior Brendan Ryan was just a stroke behind with rounds of 79 and 72, which placed him 14th.
Senior Kirby Brown was another stroke behind Ryan. Brown finished 74-78 to earn a tie for 15th place.
The men’s team plays its next tournament on April 4 and 5 in the Ashford University Invite at Blue Top Ridge Golf Course in Riverside, Iowa.
Tim Carroll
Senior Sports Editor