The University of San Francisco women’s golf team, trying to keep up with their basketball team which is having an excellent season, won the Valley Invitational by five strokes over Grand Canyon at Bakersfield Country Club, with Elizabeth Sholtes of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo taking the individual title.
USF claimed is first victory since the 2016 Sacramento State Invitational and its first under Coach Sara Doell, who is in her fourth season with the Dons.
The Dons posted a score of 298-293-304—895, 31-over-par, followed by Grand Canyon at 304-299-297—900, Cal Poly SLO at 307-303-297—907, Cal State Fullerton at 299-310- 308—917, and Hawaii at 309-306-309—924.
Santa Clara was sixth at 323-315-293—931, followed by Northern Arizona at 309-307- 318—934, California Baptist at 322-306-310—938, UC Irvine at 306-317-317—940, and UC Davis at 324-311-316—951.
Sholtes, a Cal Poly senior from Alameda, claimed her second college title with a score of 72-72-73—217, one-over, followed by Sienna Lyford of UC Irvine at 72-73-75—220, Siripatsorn Patchana of Grand Canyon at 76-77-68—221, and Eina Saksa of Cal State Fullerton at 71-74-77—222.
“I was really nervous to play this week, but was just happy to be on the course,” said Scholtes, who tied for the title in the 2019 Battle at the Rock in Riverside as a freshman. “The greens were really challenging and I had a great putting week, which really helped me.
“It was also fun to have our entire team here. The team energy was great and kept me going through the rounds.”
Jade Siphomsay of San Francisco shot 76-73-75—224 to tie for fifth with teammate Riana Mission, who finished at 72-72-80—224, and Abigail Leighton of UC Davis, who wound up at 78-71-75—224.
Toni St. John of San Francisco totaled 74-75-76—225 to tie for eighth with Constanzo Guerrero of Grand Canyon, who finished at 74-72-79—225, while Annika Borrelli of San Francisco shot 76-73-77—226 to tie for 10th with Alexis Linham of Grand Canyon, who came in at 77-74-75—226.
Rounding out the scoring for team champion San Francisco was Toni Sottile in a tie for 21st at 80-76-76—232.
For complete results, visit https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=24029
