Spring golf, take two

After a rainstorm spoiled the scheduled start to the spring season nearly a month ago, the Portland State women’s golf team finally began the 2010 season this week at the Fresno State Lexus Classic.

The Viking women finished ninth among 14 teams at the Fresno State-sponsored tournament held at the Copper River Country Club in Fresno, Calif., on Monday and Tuesday.

Freshman Britney Yada shot a 220 (74–71–75) to tie for ninth place, putting her just six strokes above the event’s leader, San Jose State’s Cristina Corpus (74¬–69–71=214).

Yada finished four under par and improved on her previous best 54-hole score by eight shots, and ties the fifth best in school history. It also marks the third time in five events that she has led the PSU team in scoring.

Portland State shot 917 as a team (310–300–307), and bested the other two competing Big Sky Conference schools, Sacramento State (919) and Eastern Washington (1,014). The Vikings’ score is the lowest they have tallied in a 54-hole event since winning the 2008 Big Sky Conference Championship with a 911.

UC Davis won the 14-team tournament with a 880 (288–294–298), just two strokes under San Jose State.

Contributing to the Viking’s team score was junior Alexia Brown who, with a 229, finished 23rd out of 74 golfers. Senior Danielle Ranallo finished in a tie for 40th with 233, sophomore Tiffany Schoning tied for 51st with 236 and junior Kalyn Dodge tied for 61st with 242.

This was Portland State’s seventh best 54-hole score and the second-round score of 300 is a single-round best for the 2009–10 season. The Vikings are now 8–3 on the season in head-to-head scoring against conference opponents.

The Gold Rush Golf Tournament hosted by Long Beach State in Seal Beach, Calif., was slated to be their first event on Feb. 7–9, but heavy rains forced organizers to cancel the tournament.

Due to the cancellation, Portland State is scheduled in four more spring tournaments, including the Big Sky Championship in Chandler, Ariz. on April 19–21. The next competition for the Vikings is the UNLV Spring Invitational at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nev., on March 8–10.