PSU in 18th place at golf regionals

Portland State women’s golf had a wild day of bogeys and double-bogeys on Thursday, but finished the first day of the NCAA West Regional in Stanford, Calif., in 18th place at 25-over par. Virginia and Arizona are tied for first at 7-over.

The Vikings began the course on the back-nine, and were at the top of the leaderboard through their first six holes. By the turn to the front-nine, PSU dropped to a 10th-place tie with Stanford before falling to their current position at 25-over par with 309 attempts.

Sophomore Tiffany Schoning finished the day with 5-over par (76), and junior Kalyn Dodge finished with 6-over (77). Senior Stephanie Johns and freshman Britney Yada both finished 7-over (78).

After the first three holes, all four players started strong and were either under or at par with Yada shooting bogey-free. After nine, Yada, Johns and Schoning fell to 2-over par, and Dodge fell to 6-over par.

Schoning, who sat at two-under par through her fifth hole, bogeyed the sixth and double-bogeyed the seventh. By the end of the day, she birdied three holes, bogeyed four and double-bogeyed two. Dodge was still at par through six, but finished her first nine holes with three consecutive double-bogies.

Yada completed the course with four bogeys and a triple-bogey on the par-4 sixth hole. Johns birdied twice, bogeyed seven and double-bogeyed once.

PSU is competing against 23 other schools at the 71-par Stanford Golf Course for the chance to advance to the NCAA Championship Tournament in Wilmington, N.C., on May 19–22. The Vikings earned their slot in the regionals by winning the Big Sky Conference Championship last month. Two other regionals, the Central in Indiana and the Eastern in North Carolina, are also underway, and the top eight teams and two individuals from each will proceed to the Championship.

Leading the PSU pack coming into this tournament, based on averages, was Johns (76.25) followed closely by Yada (76.37), Schoning (77.76), and Dodge (78.42).

The players have two more days of 18-hole play on Friday and Saturday. Live scores of the regional are available at www.golfstat.com and updates are available on the tournament’s Twitter feed, @WestRegionals.