The Weber State University women’s golf team worked its way up the leaderboard on Tuesday, the final day of the BYU Dixie Classic in St. George at the Entrada Golf Club.
The tournament was composed of three 18-hole rounds. Each team took its top four individual scores for the round and combined them into a total score for the round, and then got a subsequent final score for the tournament by combining all three rounds.
The Wildcats scored a final round of 318 and a tournament total of 968 to finish 10th. The top four Wildcat women averaged roughly an 80, which is eight over par on 18 holes.
Entrada at Snow Canyon is widely known as one of the toughest courses in Utah, yet Kelsey Chugg felt the team could have done much better.
“We definitely did not play our best,” said Chugg, who is in her first year at WSU since transferring from a junior college. “The lava rocks at Entrada made the course very tricky; the greens were difficult and undulating, yet we could have done better. We needed to drop more puts and strike the ball a little better. We have no doubt that we will do just that in our next tournament.”
Chugg was named Big Sky Golfer of the Week last week.
Amanda Snyder was the top Wildcat golfer, shooting a 237 with a solid 77 on the final day to tie for 30th in the tournament. Out of hundreds of participants, four rounds of 18-hole-scores recorded at Entrada on Monday and Tuesday were below par. Chugg shot a 77 over the final 18 holes as well and finished 37th overall. Jordan Ulibarri shot a 241 and was not far behind in 41st place.
Chugg said she expects the team to continue to improve and get better as the season continues.
“We are expecting to compete hard and play really well over the final month before the conference tournament,” Chugg said. “We have a lot of talent on the team, and now we just need to bring all the pieces together, so we can play like we should in conference. We have a definite chance of winning it.”
The Big Sky Conference Championships will be held on Sunday, April 22 to Tuesday, April 24 at the Ocotillo Golf Club in Chandler, Ariz.
The Wildcats will have the chance to warm up at the Ocotillo Golf Club before the Conference Championships, and Jordan Ulibarri said that they are grateful for it.
“We are fortunate to play that course (Ocotillo GC) in our final two tournaments before the Conference Championships in late April,” Ulibarri said. “Hopefully, we can take advantage of it. We need to pay careful attention to the course, so we can learn it inside and out before the final tournament.”
The team will take one trip for its last two tournaments before the championship in Arizona. The Montana State University and Idaho State University Tri Match will be held on Saturday, April 7, followed by the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic on Monday, April 9 at the Ocotillo Golf Club.
