RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Following one of its best rounds of the season, the Nevada women's golf team earned a fifth place finish to open its spring season at the Battle at the Rock.
"Today was a good day! We got off to a slow start but hung in there," said head coach
Kathleen Takaishi. "I'm really proud of how we played this week. The team did a good job of committing to their game plan and process."
The Wolf Pack, which began the day in fifth, finished one shot off of tying for third place with tournament host UC Riverside and Stetson. UC Davis captured the team title at 10-over par by eight strokes over runner-up Hawai'i. It was Nevada though which tied for the low team round of the day with a 6-over 294. The Pack's team score was its fourth-lowest of the season. Nevada got strong play out of its seniors on the final day of the event.
Celyn Khoo was the only Wolf Pack player to record a round under par this week, shooting a 1-under par 71 on Tuesday. Khoo used four birdies throughout her round, two on the front side and two on the back, to finish the day under par. She jumped 12 spots on the individual leaderboard to earn her second top 10 of the season, finishing at 4-over for the tournament.
Fellow senior
Jordan Keyser carded a season-low round of 72 during her final round. Keyser was pretty clean throughout her Tuesday round, collecting three birdies to three bogeys. Her even par score helped her leap 10 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 22
nd in the 81-player field. Sophomore
Katy Rutherford also tied for 22
nd place as a final round of 76 put her at 7-over for the tournament along with Keyser.
Sophomore
Jenny Krause and junior
Chaithra Katamneni also tied on the individual leaderboard, finishing in a tie for 28
th place. Krause's final round of 75 was the third-lowest Pack round of the day. Katamneni struggled a bit on the final day, carding a 78 to finish at 9-over for the event. Junior
Kaitlin Collom, who was entered as an individual, placed in a tie for 72
nd at 24-over par.
Samantha Hutchison of UC Davis and Alice Duan of Cal State Northridge tied for individual medalist honors at 5-under par. Just six of 81 players finished the event under par.
Nevada is back in action at the end of the month, Feb. 26-27, when it heads south to Las Vegas and Spanish Trails Country Club to compete in The Rebel Beach, hosted by UNLV and Long Beach State.
Nevada Players
T10.
Celyn Khoo – 74-75-71=200 (+4)
T22.
Katy Rutherford – 74-73-76=223 (+7)
T22.
Jordan Keyser – 76-75-72=223 (+7)
T28.
Chaithra Katamneni – 73-74-78=225 (+9)
T28.
Jenny Krause – 76-74-75=225 (+9)
T72.
Kaitlin Collom (ind.) – 79-83-78=240 (+24)
