The Idaho women’s golf team had a disappointing end to its fall season in Las Vegas, competing in the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown from Sunday to Tuesday. Due to bad weather conditions, the tournament had only two rounds of golf, instead of the usual three.
“When we got to the course it was already 25 mph winds,” Idaho coach Lisa Johnson said. “The rules official told me as soon as the course is unplayable, that’s when we would call the round.”
The Vandals and the rest of the field may have been expecting the usual hot, desert weather when they arrived in Vegas, but that isn’t what they received. With winds reaching up to 40 mph, and power outages in the area, the second day of the tournament was canceled.
The bad weather may have played a role in the Vandals play, as they finished with a 611, which put them in last place out of 17 teams. San Diego State won the tournament with a 579, and had three players in the top 15, with Sirene Blair taking the individual title with a 6-under-par 138 for the tournament.
“We didn’t have a couple players that had a strong tournament,” Johnson said. “We all played average, no one stepped up and played great.”
Leading the way for the Vandals was sophomore Kristin Strankman, who finished tied for 51st with a 8-over-par. She was followed closely by junior Kaitlyn Oster tied for 58th with a 9-over-par 153 and junior Leilanie Kim and freshman Amy Hasenoehrl both tied for 67th with a 10-over-par 154. Sophomore Cassie McKinley finished next for Idaho tied for 78th with a 14-over-par 158 and sophomore Kassidy Long-Goheen tied for 85th with a 16-over-par 160.
The Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown ends a fall season that provided a lot of learning opportunities for a young Vandals team which only features one senior, Rachel Choi.
The highlight of the season came in New Mexico on Oct. 8, when Kaitlyn Oster shot a hole-in-one, the first of her career. The hole-in-one and fourth-place finish by Oster helped propel the Vandals to a fifth-place finish, their second best finish of the season.
“We played very good at New Mexico State, coming back after that though first round, I was really proud of the team,” Johnson said.
Their best finish of the season came at Palouse Ridge in Pullman, where they saw three players finish in the top 12, leading them to a third-place finish.
Leilanie Kim was the team’s best player in the fall, starting the season off by finishing in the top 20 in the first three tournaments, with a fifth-place finish in the first tournament in Colorado.
The team will look to build on those positives, as they head into the winter training, and prepare for the spring season. The spring season starts February 24 at Irvine, Calif., with the UC Irvine Invitational and concludes with the WAC Championship on April 25.
“I am very encouraged that the team is going to work really hard this winter,” Johnson said. “We will be better heading into the spring when it really matters.”
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected]