Even though the tournament fell on April Fool’s Day, the UC Davis women’s golf team wasn’t fooling around – it came to play some golf.
After being tied for seventh place Apr. 1, the Aggies jumped three spots on the final day to finish in a fourth-place tie with UNLV at the Regional Preview in Lincoln, Calif.
Led by freshman Chelsea Stelzmiller, who earned an eighth-place finish with a total score of 221, the Aggies finished ahead of ranked opponents No. 45 San Francisco and No. 48 Washington State as well as the three other Big West Conference teams in the 19-team field.
I didn’t feel we played as well as we could have, said head coach Kathy DeYoung. But we placed well, and it was great to be ahead of such great competition.
The tournament at the Lincoln Hills Golf Club gave teams a chance to preview the 6,018-yard Orchard Course prior to competing at the NCAA West Regional Championships May 8 to 10.
We were very fortunate to get the opportunity to play on the course, DeYoung said. It’s going to be a big help, but Regionals is way ahead of us. It would be huge to get there, and I wouldn’t put anything past this team.
Stelzmiller continued her red-hot stroke for the Aggies, posting her sixth straight top-10 finish of the season.
Senior Sydney Roughton carded a 1-over-73 in the final round of the tournament to improve her ranking 16 spots from 37th to 21st place.
No. 10 Denver won the tournament by a landslide margin, finishing 24 strokes ahead of second-place Oregon.
Playing as an individual, Aggie freshman Alice Kim turned in a 71 on the first day of play and finished with a final score of 217. Her score was good enough for second place, just one stroke shy of the leader, Washington State’s Amy Eneroth.
UC Davis will return to action Apr. 11 at the Peg Barnard Invitational in Stanford, Calif.
MATT MILLER can be reached at sports@californiaaggie.com.
