Seattle Pacific University’s women’s golf team competed in the Flagler Fall Slam, their final tournament for the fall season, from Monday, Oct. 21, to Tuesday, Oct. 22, in St. Augustine, Florida.
On the 6,062-yard and par-72 course at the Marsh Creek Country Club, SPU played two 18-hole rounds, a total of 36 holes, per day. A total of 13 teams competed in the tournament, four of them nationally ranked in Division II of the National Collegiate Athletics Association: Flagler College (#5); Palm Beach Atlantic University (#16); University of Montevallo (#34); and Colorado Christian University (#48).
SPU’s starting lineup for the first day included sophomore Zoe Garcia, junior Sara Rhodes, junior Brigitte Fenton, sophomore Sophie Stamatis and freshman Natalie Eklund. Sophomore Hannah Hochsprung and freshman Anika Schau were last on the roster to compete.
At the end of the first day, SPU’s team score was 343 points, putting them in 11th place. Flagler College took first place with 295 points.
Garcia and Schau shot the team’s best individual scores with 82 strokes. Fenton and Hochsprung shot the next-best scores with 83 and 85 strokes respectively.
SPU’s team score at the end of day two was 332 points, an 11-stroke improvement from the first round. Their overall score for the tournament was 675, ending their fall season with an 11th-place finish. Flagler took first place with 578.
Day two saw a standout performance from Fenton, who shot a team-best 78, a five-stroke improvement from round one. Fenton finished the tournament tied for 44th place with 161 points.
Garcia and Schau posted next-best performances for SPU with 165 and 168 points respectively, tying for 51st and 57th placings.
Head Coach Tyler Copp said the tournament was a great end to the fall season.
“It was a great opportunity for us to compete and have all 7 members of the team in the field,” Copp said. “We improved greatly from day one to day two, which showed our resiliency and ability to adapt to tough playing conditions.”
SPU women’s golf will resume competition in the spring quarter on Monday, Feb. 3, and Tuesday, Feb. 4, at the Los Angeles Spring Invite in Los Angeles, California, at the Rio Hondo Golf Club.
“We will use the winter to practice twice a week and lift twice a week. This will allow us to stay connected as a program during our off-season,” Copp said. “In addition, the [team] will be reading a book and reviewing the mental game advice it has to offer. Lastly, identify areas in our game that need improvement and find consistency in our strong suits in everybody’s game.”
