Women’s golf shares second place with Washington

Portland State women’s golf tied with event-hosts Washington for second place at a single-round triangle tournament with Oregon State and UW last weekend. Tiffany Schoning finished at the top of the individual leaderboards in a tie for medalist honors.

Oregon State took the top position with a team score of 309 at the Auburn National Golf Club. The Vikings ended with a team score of 316.

Schoning, a PSU junior from Bend, shot a 74, two over par, to bring her scoring average down to a team-leading 75.4 after 10 rounds of play.

Fellow Viking sophomore Britney Yada shot 77 to tie for fifth place and freshman Lauren Taylor (playing individually) shot 78 to tie for seventh. Picking up the rest of Portland State’s shots at the event were teammates Kayln Dodge with 81, Alexia Brown with 84, Loren Forney with 89 and Katie Ortman (also playing individually) shot 100.

“We definitely didn’t play our best,” said head coach Kathleen Takaishi. “However, it was a great opportunity to see the golf course. [NCAA West] Regionals will be held there in May, and we definitely anticipate being there. We will know what to expect in May and will have a better game plan for the golf course.”

The three-team tournament consisted of 21 players playing one-round on the par-72, 6,290-yard course.

Earlier this month, the Vikings took fourth place out of 11 teams at the University of Colorado’s Heather Farr Memorial. With a team score of 927, PSU outscored the other three conference teams that competed at the event, bringing the Vikings head-to-head record with conference opponents to 11-1.

With the current success of this fall season, women’s golf seems to be placing itself in line to earn another Big Sky Conference championship in 2011, as it did last year.

Portland State has just one more event remaining in the fall season before breaking until spring play begins in February. Up next for Vikings golf is the Turtle Bay Resort College Invitational in Oahu, Hawaii on Nov. 2–4.

Takaishi said she is going to continue working with her Vikings on their short game, course management and mental preparation.

“I would anticipate some wind in Hawaii, so we are going to work on knock-down shots,” she said. “The team wants to play well and end the season on a good note and continue that momentum in the spring season.” ?