Nov. 2, 2009

Complete 18-Hole Results in PDF Format

KAHUKU, Hawai'i - Playing in perhaps the toughest field in the history of the Gonzaga University women's golf program, the Bulldogs put up some respectable scores Monday in the opening round of the three-day, 54-hole Turtle Bay Resort College Invitational.

The Bulldogs are 13th in the 18-team field after shooting a 306 for a two-stroke advantage over Brigham Young University. But the Bulldogs are in position to move up, finding themselves just eight shots out of ninth.

The tournament features three teams ranked in the National Golf Coaches Association Top 25 -the University of Southern California sixth, UCLA seventh and the University of California at 16th - as well as several others given a shot at competing for the national championship in the spring. UCLA finished second and USC third in last spring's NCAA Women's Golf Championship. The Bulldogs were paired with USC in Monday's round.

Sage Suffecool shot a 75, Rachel Sibbitt a 76, Victoria Fallgren a 77, Jessica Howe a 78 and Genna Dodge a 79 over the 6,261-yard, par 72 George Fazio Course at Turtle Bay Resort. Alice Kim of UC Davis is the first-round leader at 67 for a 1-shot lead over Cristina Corpus of San Jose State University and UC Davis teammate Demi Runas.

The teams will play the Fazio Course again Tuesday, then complete the tournament on the Arnold Palmer Course Wednesday.

"We did okay and competed hard," head coach Brad Rickel said. "It was windy as always, especially on the back nine, and we did a good job of figuring out the golf course and it played like we thought it would."

Suffecool played well through the front nine, then "the wind on the back side kind of got her" according to Rickel. He also said a couple of holes played a little longer than they did in Sunday's practice round.

Rickel said the Bulldogs short game was their weakness.

"We didn't chip it close enough and we didn't make a lot of putts. I thought we played well enough so shoot six-to-eight shots lower. But nobody on our team has played here (Hawai'i) before and they are not quite understanding the greens and the rough, but I think we'll play better tomorrow," he said.

UC Davis holds the team lead at 281, seven strokes ahead of SJSU which is at even par, the only two teams at or under par after 18 holes.

Cal is third at 290, USC fourth at 291 and UCLA tied for fifth at 292.

Rickel said his team wasn't in awe of the field.

"We played fine. We were paired with USC and they were fine with it," Rickel said of his squad. "For the most part we felt like we belonged."