RIVERSIDE, Calif. – CSU Bakersfield's women's golf team braved strong winds at the Battle at the Rock tournament hosted by UC Riverside on Monday. The Roadrunners played 36 holes to open the invitational at Oak Quarry Golf Club and got consistent scores from their top three student-athletes.
“We are definitely capable of better golf than we played today,” said Meghan Thomason, Director of Golf at CSUB. “Tonight, we will regroup and make some adjustments to score on this golf course. Chandler really stayed tough and posted a solid second round for us from the five spot. I'm obviously disappointed in our position on the leaderboard, but I feel like we really could have let the first round get away from us with the wind blowing, but that didn't happen.”
Round 1
Through the first nine holes, junior Ariel Lee led the 'Runner women at two-over-par with a pair of birdies and four bogies. As a team, CSUB was 14th in the large, 15-team field.
On the back nine, Lee tailed off a bit as fellow junior Tori Peers held on to lead the 'Runners in the first round. Peer's score of 80 was tied for 39th overall in the 84-woman field while Lee was just one stroke behind her teammate. Freshman Macey Mills and senior Chandler Bullman tied for third for the 'Runners with first-round scores of 84.
As a squad, CSUB's top four scorers combined for 329 strokes (+41), tied for the seventh-best single round of the season. After Round 1, the 'Runners were in 14th of the 15 teams. Junior Julia Stewart's 88 did not count towards CSUB's team score in the first round.
Round 2
Bullman improved seven strokes from Round 1 to Round 2 with a 77 on the second go around. Lee continued to shoot well, posting a 79 to lead the 'Runners with a two-round score of 160. The junior from Singapore was just one stroke ahead of Peers and Bullman (161) on the day as Peers carded an 81 in Round 2. Lee is currently tied for 52nd overall while her teammates are tied for 57th.
Mills used one more stroke on the second round with an 85 while Stewart improved by five strokes to card an 83. Stewart rounded out CSUB's scoring four in Round 2 as the 'Runners improved nine strokes as a team to 320 (+32), CSUB's third-best single round of the season.
Despite enhanced play, the 'Runners dropped back to 15th overall (649), but trails Montana by just three strokes. Hawai'i leads all teams after two rounds with a team score of 599. Northern Arizona's Sofia Anokhina shot 71 and 73 to take the individual lead after Day 1.
The 'Runners will return to Oak Quarry Golf Club on Tuesday for a final round of golf in the Battle at the Rock tournament. Tee times are set to begin at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning.
~GoRunners.com~
