WSU women’s golf placed 11th in the Bobcat Desert Classic, a tournament held in Goodyear, Arizona at the Estrella Golf Club. In a 17-team field, the Cougs came out strong on day one, but struggled on day two, finishing ultimately around the middle of the pack. It was a tournament defined by a difficult back-nine, which caused trouble for the Cougars on all three days of the tournament.
On day one, Wazzu played well. Junior Madelyn Gamble shot two-under and was in eighth place overall at the day’s end. She got into an early hole but overcame a two-over deficit with three birdies on the back nine.
Freshman Alice Johansson also finished below par, with a score of one-under. She impressively managed to par fifteen holes and supplemented that with two birdies and a single bogey.
Junior Emily Cadwell shot two-over, despite playing a strong round of golf. If not for a late double bogey, she would have finished even. Fellow junior Sarah Skovgaard-Blis got off to a hot start, with a score of one-under at the turn, but four bogeys on the back nine dropped her score to three-over.
Similarly, sophomore Hannah Harrison was sitting even through the front nine but watched her score slip to six-over. She struggled to navigate a particularly challenging back-nine but did birdie hole seventeen to help her finish at five-over. Overall, after round one, the Cougars were in eighth place overall.
WSU slipped three spots, from eighth to eleventh, on day two. Gamble, who entered the day in eighth overall, got off to a rocky start when she bogeyed three of the first four holes. However, she went on to collect three straight birdies and helped herself back to an even score on the day.
Johansson got off to a better start but ran into trouble on the back nine, where she shot five straight bogeys. Her final mark on the day was five-over, giving her a total score of four over par. Cadwell once again had a much better day than her score suggested. She would have finished even, if not for a triple-bogey on hole one, which ballooned her score to three-over. Harrison improved from her first round, shooting two-over on day two, and raising her total score to seven-over par. And Skovgaard-Blis shot four-over, also struggling with three bogeys on the back nine.
During round three, the Cougars remained in eleventh overall, where they eventually finished. Gamble, who entered the day fighting for a spot in the top 10 individual finishers, finished 11th overall. She parred 12 of her first 13 holes, but a pair of late bogeys set her at two-over on the day, and even overall in the tournament.
Still a fantastic finish, 11th out of 98. Johanson overcame her back-nine issues from round two, but still finished three-over on the day. Her final score was seven-over, good for 38th place overall.
Cadwell, Skovgaard-Blis and Harrison all tied for 45th overall, with final scores of 8-over. Harrison led the Cougars on day three with her score of one-over, a four-stroke turnaround from her score of five-over in round one. Cadwell began round three with two birdies early on, but once again fell victim to the back-nine, where five bogeys lifted her score to three-over on the day. And Skovgaard-Blis finished one-over, opening the round with ten straight pars, before trading three bogeys and two birdies the rest of the way.
Overall, it was a tournament defined by the back-nine for WSU. On the front nine, the Cougars shot for a combined total of three-over par. However, on the back nine, they combined to shoot 28-over par. Every Coug besides Gamble had at least one round when they shot 3-over or worse on the back-nine, which tanked their scores and set them back to 11th place overall. Still, the Cougs all finished inside the top 50 individually, and there were many bright spots in the tournament.
WSU looks forward to hosting the Pac-12 women’s golf championship on April 21–23 at Palouse Ridge in Pullman.
