WGF: NWC CHAMPIONSHIP - Bruins 2nd by Four Strokes after First Day of NWC Event
NWC Championship Day 1 Results
PORTLAND, Ore. - In a tournament that could well go down to the final hole, the 6th-ranked George Fox University Bruins stand in second place, four strokes behind front-running Whitworth University, after Saturday’s first round of the Northwest Conference Women’s Golf Championship here at the Heron Lakes Green Back Golf Course.
Whitworth shot a four-player score of 332 on the par 72, 5,813-yard course, with George Fox at 336 and Linfield College in third, seven strokes off the pace, at 339. Whitman College sits in fourth with a 344, followed by the University of Puget Sound at 345, Pacific University at 349, Pacific Lutheran University at 370, Willamette University at 418, and host Lewis & Clark College at 465.
Brianna Nap had the Bruins’ top score after Saturday’s play with an 83, tied for fourth and three strokes behind the 80 of Emily Guthrie of Whitworth. Bruin teammates Abby Mann and Kelsey Morrison were tied for seventh with scores of 84, while Mandy Cameron’s 85, tied for 12th, also counted for George Fox. Sarah Askin carded an 87, tied for 20th, and Jill Westendorf had a 90, tied for 30th.
Tate Head of Whitman is second with an 81, and Rachel Dubes of Whitworth is in third at 82. The shot of the day was a hole-in-one by Megan Coggeshall of Lewis & Clark on the par 3 third hole.
Tee times for Sunday’s final 18 begin at 9:06 a.m., but the first Bruin players do not go off until 10:54 a.m. The NWC Championship counts as half the points total toward the overall conference title and the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championship, which is set for May 11-14 at the Mission Inn Resort Golf Course in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla., about 30 miles northwest of Orlando.