Idaho women’s golf finishes fifth at Cougar Cup, WSU wins team, individual titles
After a solid start to the first two rounds of play, the Idaho women’s golf team fin- ished in fifth place out of the nine schools that competed in the Washington State Cougar Cup Monday and Tuesday at Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman. The Vandals headed into Tuesday insecondplacewithaone- stroke lead over BYU.
Next up, Idaho plays in the Rose City Collegiate Monday and Tuesday in Portland.
Nathan Romans | Argonaut
Junior Kristin Strankman watches a drive Monday during the WSU Cougar Cup at Palouse Ridge Golf Club. Strankman shot a third-day team-low 76 and finished tied for 16th overall.
Washington State dominated the Cougar Cup as the host team won with a three- round, 3-over-par 867. WSU’s Nani Yanagi, who played as an individual, won with a 6-under-par 210.
BYU finished 16 strokes behind WSU with an 883 to finish second, Portland State finished third and Montana shot one stroke better than Idaho to finish fourth.
The Vandals shot 311 in the third and final round — their worst of the three rounds.
Idaho senior Kaitlyn Oster tied for eighth with a 4-over- par 220 to lead the Vandals.
Oster said she hit her driver well during the invitational and was extremely pleased with her putts on Monday.
Senior Leilanie Kim shot a 7-over-par 223 to tie for 12th. Kim and WSU’s Kristen Rue shot 69 the first round, the low score that round, but Kim finished with an 80 in round three.
“Actually Lilly played very well,” Johnson said. “She had one of those few holes you have maybe once in your college career … It was just one of those fluke things that happens sometimes in golf and when you have a hole like that, you really just have to laugh about it and move on, because other than that, she played great.”
Junior Kristin Strankman carded an 8-over-par 224 to tie for 16th. Her final-round of 76 strokes was the best score on the team that round.
“She’s proven to be a very consistent player, so she’s someone we can definitely depend on every round,” Johnson said. “She hasn’t shown that she’s finishing really low yet, but I think she can get there.”
Strankman said she is happy with how she played through the conditions.
Nathan Romans | Argonaut
Senior Lelanie Kim sizes up a putt Monday during the WSU Cougar Cup at Palouse Ridge Golf Club. Kim shot 69, 74 and 80 over three rounds of play and ended up tied for twelth overall.
“Especially with the weather, the wind was really bad, so to adjust to that just mentally and physically was pretty tough,” she said. “So I was proud of myself for shooting a decent score in bad weather.”
Sophomore Amy Hasenoehrl shot 231 to tie for 32nd and freshman Kendall Gray shot 233 to tie for 35th for the Vandals.
Idaho’s Cassie McKinley, Mary Sweeney and Kassidy Long-Goheen competed as individuals.
Garrett Cabeza can be reached at [email protected]