RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. - The 2023 Mountain West Championships came to a close Thursday afternoon, and the Nevada Women's Golf team earned a fourth-place finish, and a Silver State Series win in thrilling fashion, fueled by another sensational performance from Victoria Gailey.
The Pack shot 293 (+5) as a team on Thursday, pushing their three-round score to 876 (+12), placing them in fourth on the final team leaderboard.
Gailey carded her third consecutive round below par, closing out the event with a 71 (-1), as she finished in a tie for sixth overall in the individual leaderboard with a 54-hole score of 213 (-3). Gailey continued her unprecedented success at the Mountain West Championships, as the tie for sixth place marked the fourth time in her career that she has recorded a top-10 finish at the event. Gailey is now just one of two players in Nevada Women's Golf history to finish within the top-10 at the conference tournament in all four seasons competing at the event, joining Angie Yoon as the only other Pack Women's golfer to accomplish the incredible feat.
Gailey started off her round with a bogey on the first hole; however, she responded by tallying back-to-back pars before earning a birdie on the par-4 4th hole. She then proceeded to tally another par before picking up her second birdie of the round on the par-4 6th hole. Gailey went par, bogey, par over the final three holes of the front nine, as she entered the back nine at even par.
The fifth-year senior had an immaculate start to the back nine, parring the 10th hole before sinking back-to-back birdies on holes 11 and 12. Gailey then parred consecutive holes before bogeying the 15th. She parred the next two holes before stepping up to the 18th tee box. With Nevada tied with UNLV for fourth place in the team standings and the remainder of the Pack golfers already done for the day, the pressure was on. After UNLV's final golfer bogeyed the 18th hole, Gailey got herself onto the green and calmly sank a par putt to push Nevada ahead of UNLV by one stroke and into sole possession of fourth place, while also earning the Pack a Silver State Series win over the Rebels.
Senior Leah John finished second in the Nevada lineup and tied for 21st overall after carding a 54-hole score of 221 (+5). John recorded a 74 (+2) over the final 18 holes. She began her round with a double-bogey on the 1st hole; but, she immediately bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 2nd hole. John tallied four pars, two bogeys, and one birdie over the remainder of the front nine. John proceeded to have an impressive performance on the back nine, as she parred all nine holes to finish two shots over par for the day.
Anitra Khoth carded a 75 (+3) for the final round, bringing her 54-hole score to 223 (+7) and placing her in 26th place on the individual leaderboard. Khoth parred all nine holes on the front nine before picking up six pars and three bogeys on the back nine.
Gabby Kano had her best round of the tournament Thursday, as the freshman closed out the event by carding a 73 (+1). She completed tournament play tied for 27th with a three-round score of 224 (+8). Kano bogeyed the first hole before reeling six straight pars. She then earned a birdie on the par-3 8th hole and parred the ninth hole to complete the front nine at even par. Kano had eight pars and one bogey on the back nine.
Kayla Nocum rounded out the Wolf Pack lineup, carding a 77 (+5) to close out the event. Nocum finished tied for 34th overall with a 54-hole score of 228 (+12). She had 12 pars and one birdie over the final 18 holes.
New Mexico claimed the team and individual titles at the Mountain West Championships, carding a combined team score of 853 (-11) to win the tournament, while Lobos' golfer Napat Lertsadwattana shot 209 (-7) across 54 holes to earn the individual title.
Up Next
Nevada will await to see if they are selected to participate in the NCAA Regionals.
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