Tess Blair of Sacramento State claimed the individual title and led the Hornets to the Big Sky Women’s Golf Championship for the third time in their last four attempts at Arrowhead Golf Club in Molalla, Ore.
Sacramento State also won the Big Sky title in 2007, 2017 and 2019 and have earned a berth in an NCAA Regional. Last year’s conference championship was cancelled by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Hornets finished in the top six of their sixth straight tournament, but claimed their first victory with a score of 298-304-299—901, 11-over-par, followed by Northern Arizona at 296-309-304—909, Portland State at 302-307-309—918, Idaho at 308-311-303—922 and Northern Colorado at 310-307-313—930.
Sacramento State was down to a one-stroke lead over Northern Arizona with three holes remaining before the Hornets responded with an eagle, four birdies and seven pars down the stretch to clinch the title.
Weber State was sixth at 305-318-310—933, followed by Southern Utah at 316-311-312—939, Eastern Washington at 320-314-313—947, Montana at 320-325-313—958 and Montana State at 320-337-316—973.
Blair, a sophomore from South Jordan, Utah, claimed her second college title and became the first Hornet since Margaux Sheehan in 2007 to capture the conference title with a score of 74-69-72—215, 1-under. She finished in style with an eagle on the 16th hole and a birdie on the last.
Laura Gerner of Idaho shot 74-74-75—223 to tie for second with Franca Polla of Portland State, who finished at 73-74-76—223, and Ekaterina Malakhova of Northern Arizona, who wound up at 74-72-77—223.
Sydney Smith of Sacramento State totaled 73-74-77—224 to tie for fifth with Kylie Esh of Montana, who finished at 76-76-72—224, and Klara Kucharova of Northern Arizona, who wound up at 73-78-73—224.
Jaelin Ishikawa of Eastern Washington shot 80-75-70—225 to tie for eighth with Valeria Patino of Idaho, who finished at 75-76-74—225, while Valerie Hernandez of Portland State totaled 77-76-74—227 to tie for 10th with Pluem Yongyuan of Southern Utah, who wound up at 80-71-76—227, and Abbi Fleiner of Northern Colorado, who came in at 76-75-76—227.
Rounding out the scoring for team champion Sacramento State were Corinne Viden in a tie for 13th at 71-83-74—228, Jennifer Koga in a tie for 21st at 80-78-76—234, and Miki Manta in a tie for 40th at 83-83-79—245.
For complete results, visit http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=22026
