The Utah Valley University women's golf team will continue its fall season at Seattle U's Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 10-11, at the Tacoma Country and Golf Club in Lakewood, Washington.
The two-day, 54-hole event will begin with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. MT, on Monday, and 9:30 a.m. MT, on Tuesday. Competitors will play 36 holes on Monday before finishing the event with a final 18 on Tuesday. Live results will be available throughout the duration of the tournament on BirdieFire.
Fifteen teams will participate at the two-day event. Besides the Wolverines and the host Seattle U Redhawks, BYU, Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, Eastern Washington, Grand Canyon, Gonzaga, Montana, Oregon State, Sacramento State, Sam Houston State, Washington, Washington State and Weber State will all also take part.
"We love Tacoma Country and Golf Club and it's the favorite course for several players on our team. It is a good setup for us, as we're a good ball-striking team, and this course requires good ball-striking," head UVU coach Dr. Sue Nyhus said. "We're familiar with the course and looking forward to having our best outing of the fall."
UVU enters the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invite off a ninth-place finish out of 17 teams at the Bob Hurley ORU Shootout in Tulsa, Oklahoma, two week's ago. The Wolverines earned the ninth-place finish with a 78-over 930. After carding scores of 313 and 311 on Monday, UVU shot a 306 on Tuesday to post the top-10 team finish.
Sophomore Ana Raga led the way by recording the highest finish of her career by tying for eighth with a 12-over-par 225. Raga posted rounds of 76, 75 and 74 en route to earning the eighth-place finish. She not only recorded the highest finish of her career but also posted her best collegiate score at 12-over par as well as finishing the event just four strokes back of the leader.
Behind Raga's 225, true freshman Justine Lauer was next for UVU by tying for 16th place with a 16-over 229. Lauer recorded scores of 78, 75 and 76 to earn the top-20 finish.
Raga leads UVU through six rounds on the season with a 75.67 scoring average, while Lauer currently holds a 76.17 mark and sophomore Carly Dehlin is next with an even 77.00.
Raga, Lauer, Dehlin, senior Kimberly Nyhus and redshirt freshman Kaylee Shimizu will make up UVU's field of five at the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invite, while fellow Wolverines Monica Yeates and Isabella Lesa will compete at the tournament as individuals.
A season ago, Utah Valley tied for 11th out of 16 teams at the PLH Invitational with an 81-over 945. Former Wolverine Pernille Echberg led UVU at the event by tying for 33rd place with a three-round tally of 17-over 233 (77-79-77).
Following the conclusion of Monday and Tuesday's Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational, UVU will close the fall portion of its schedule on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, at the SCU Colby Invitational in San Jose, California.
James Warnick is an assistant sports information director at Utah Valley University. For more information about Wolverine athletics, visit WolverineGreen.com.