The women’s golf team ended regular season play last weekend at the Peg Barnard California Collegiate, where they placed fifth out of 12 teams.
After just 10 holes, play was halted at the 6,168 yard, par 72 Stanford Golf Course on Saturday when persistent Bay Area rain made it impossible to continue. As a consequence, tee times on Sunday were pushed up to 7:30 a.m. in an attempt to complete all 36 holes.
After what amounted to a mad dash to finish, Denver captured the top spot with a score of 621. Host Stanford (622) narrowly beat out San Jose State (623) for second place, and San Francisco edged out Portland State’s score of 628 by only two points for fourth.
Stanford’s Wendra Liang was the top individual performer at 75-73=148. PSU’s Sarah Tiller was the most successful Viking golfer, tying Nevada’s Alana Condon at fifth overall with a score of 76-76=152. Taya Battistella also played well for the Vikings, tying San Jose State’s Tai Kenney for seventh place at 76-77=153. Battistella’s notable performance was typical of the exceptional play she has been exhibiting all season. The senior golfer has been named Big Sky Conference Player of the Week a total of three times in her career, including the honor she received last week after her conference-leading score at the Utah Dixie Classic.
Other Viking finishes included senior Bobbie Dunn at 31, sophomore Jeana Lee at 47 and junior Rebecca Randolph at the 51st spot.
Next up, the Vikings will head to the Big Sky Conference Championships on April 21-23 in Goodyear, Ariz.
The PSU team has performed exceptionally well all season, and expectations are running high going into championship play. In a preseason coach’s poll conducted by the BSC, the Vikings were picked to place second behind current title-holder Northern Arizona.