The Idaho Women’s Golf team tied for third place at the Entrada Classic in St. George over spring break.
The Vandals started strong in the first round, with sophomore Valeria Patino shooting a career-best with a 6-under 66.
Senior Sophie Hausmann shot a respectable 1-under 71 with senior Michelle Kim just one stroke behind at an even par. Freshman Vicky Tsai was Idaho’s last scoring player with a 5-over 77.
With her first round score, Patino carded the second-lowest score of the tournament, carrying Idaho to a first place standing at a 2-under 286.
Idaho scored higher yet in the second round.
Patino struggled to shoot under par during the second, not carding a birdie until the last hole. She finished with a 7-over 79 which still placed her tied for third individually.
Hausmann and Kim both carded a 2-over 74 during the second round and Tsai again was the final scorer with a 6-over 78. Junior Laura Gerner shot consistently during the first two rounds with an 80 and 81.
Idaho sat strongly in third place after the first day with a team score of 15-over 591, just 7 strokes behind Texas Tech who sat in second.
“The score makes it look like we played an awful second round,” head coach Lisa Johnson said in a news release. “In reality it was just not making a couple of small adjustments to a little uptick in the wind and then missing a few putts that we made in the first round. I thought we had two solid rounds of golf today.”
Idaho saw some improvement over the second during the final round.
Hausmann shot another 1-under 71 keeping her even for the tournament. She tied for third place individually.
Kim was just two strokes behind with a 1-over 73 securing an 11th place tie individually, sitting at 3-over for the tournament.
Tsai shot her best round of the tournament with a 4-over 76 for the third and a 15-over 231 overall.
Patino didn’t shoot like her first round and finished with a 6-over 78 for the third and a 7-over 223 overall.
Idaho tied with rival school Boise State with a 25-over 889 team score.
With three top-25 finishes from Hausmann, Kim and Patino, Idaho is moving forward strong to their next tournament.
Idaho will take a trip to the tropics next to compete in the Hawkeye-El Tigre Invitational beginning March 21 in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico.
Connor Swersey can be reached at [email protected]