Freshman Lauren Taylor helps drive the golf team to success

Successful isn’t enough to describe the Portland State Women’s Golf team this spring, especially for freshman Lauren Taylor. After winning the Anteater Invitational last Tuesday, she earned the Black Clover Big Sky Conference Golfer of the week for the second week in a row. Taylor also shares this honor with Sacramento Sate senior golfer, Samantha Saffold. Saffold was co-medalist at the Cal Poly Lamkin Grip Spring Invitational.

To many, Taylor’s award was no shocker, as she picked up her second tournament title in many weeks. The freshman from Nelson, British Columbia successfully won the Folino Invitational on March 21–22, shooting scores of 70-74 for an even par total of 144 over 36 holes. Taylor captured UC Irvine’s Anteater Invitational at Dove Canyon Country Club with 71-72-75 for a five-over-par 218 score, resulting in a two-stroke victory. She won by just two shots over Nevada’s Joyce Chong. Taylor holds two medals so far this season, making her the first Viking freshman ever to win a golf tournament. She’s also the third Viking in history to win two titles in a collegiate career. Head coach Kathleen Takaishi is beyond thrilled with the play of her freshman.

“I knew she was good, [but] I didn’t know she would be this good, this soon,” Takaishi said. “She struggled a little down the stretch, but 17 and 18 aren’t easy holes.”

Britney Yada and Alexia Brown both played well enough to match Taylor’s score of 75 last Tuesday as well.

“Alexia is really close to playing very well,” Takaishi added. “She is hitting the ball well and just needs to be a little better at getting up and down. She was four over early, then finished very strong the last nine holes.”

The Vikings proudly won the Anteater Invitational by six shots over Nevada, shooting rounds of 296-298-296 for a team total of 890. This is PSU’s first tournament win of the year after six straight-top four finishes, and first win since last year’s Big Sky Conference Championship. This makes PSU the fourth-highest ranked team competing in Wyoming, behind BYU (48), New Mexico State (64) and Northern Arizona (73).

PSU has won five Golfer of the Week awards this season—two by Taylor, two by junior Tiffany Schoning and one by senior Alexia Brown, which has helped lead the Vikings to a 305 scoring average this season.

Currently, the team is in the last day of competition for the two-day Wyoming Cowgirl Classic at Ocotillo Golf Resort in Chandler, Ariz., as the Vikings will face 23 different opponents. Portland State won this tournament in 2010, which helped the Vikings rank 76th among the 255 Division I programs. This is considered the most important venue of the season. The competing teams are as follows: Boise State (136), BYU (48), Cal Poly (131), Eastern Washington (203), Idaho State (239), Montana State (177), New Mexico State (64), Northern Arizona (73), Portland State (76), Sacramento State (163), Santa Clara (108), Seattle (175), South Dakota State (161), Southern Utah (182), UC Riverside (142), Louisiana-Monroe (152), Montana (119), Northern Colorado (180), UTEP (110), Weber State (199), Wyoming (138) and Xavier (122).

Taylor will be joined in the starting lineup at the Cowgirl Classic by sophomore Britney Yada (76.25), junior Tiffany Schoning (76.50) and seniors Kalyn Dodge (77.65) and Alexia Brown (77.89). Schoning has won two events and has twice been named Big Sky Golfer of the Week this season, winning the three-team Oregon State/Washington triangle tournament in October and the Turtle Bay Collegiate Invitational in November. Brown was named Big Sky Golfer of the Week following her fourth-place finish at The Gold Rush in February, while Yada has six straight top-10 finishes, including a tie for fourth in her two most recent events. At the Anteater Invitational, Dodge shot an 80-72-79 for a 231 total and placed 23rd among the 63 golfers entered.

This is PSU’s highest position of the year and perhaps ever in women’s golf, putting the Vikings at a school-record pace. The Big Sky Conference Championship will take place at the Ocotillo Golf Resort on April 18–20. With the contribution of Taylor’s 75.75 average, the Vikings are staying ahead of the competition and keeping an optimistic outlook for the rest of the 2011 season.

“Last week and this week should give them some confidence for next week’s tournament (which features most of the Big Sky Conference schools),” Takaishi said. “Hopefully everyone continues to play well and to their potential at the Big Sky Championship.” ?