Winning tournaments can be extremely rare, even for the best teams. It is rare that all of a teams’ players put the pieces together at the right time, but the Colorado State women’s golf team did just that over the weekend, savoring their first team victory since the 2009- 2010 season.
“This group came out and made a statement this weekend and it was fun to watch them succeed.”– Laura Cilek, women’s golf coach
The pole finish came in dominating fashion at the Ron Moore Intercollegiate tournament as the Rams had three-straight rounds under par, and led the entire field after recording a 2-under 286 as a team in the first round. Each player did their part, with each contributing at least one round at or below par.
“Winning a college golf tournament is no easy feat and neither is finishing under par,” Coach Laura Cilek said. “This group came out and made a statement this weekend and it was fun to watch them succeed.”
CSU’s U.S. women’s four-ball champions junior Ellen Secor and senior Katrina Prendergast finally put together the one-two finish that most observers expected coming into the season. Secor took first-place overall with a 3-under 213 finish and Prendergast was just one stroke behind her in a tie for second.
In what has been a decorated career so far for Secor, this was her first outright collegiate win.
“Anytime you have upperclassmen who are USGA four ball champions, you kind of expect them to be contending to win tournaments,” Cilek said. “The hard part about golf is that if you put that pressure on yourself then it’s really hard to perform that way. I think this tournament they just went out with no expectations.”
The real surprise and catalyst for the team was freshman Saga Traustadottir who finished tied for fifth in her first collegiate start. Traustadottir, originally from Iceland, led the way in the first round for the Rams with a 2-under 70. She was able to contribute each of her three round’s scores to the team and finished the tournament at an even par.
“She’s around the other side of the world from home,” Cilek said. ” So we kind of focused on getting her going in school, getting her going in meeting friends, settling in and then we focused on golf. There was no doubt in my mind she’d come out and play well at some point.”
With their top-three finishers sitting at or below par nearly all weekend, sophomore Haley Greb and junior Jessica Sloot combined to make up the Rams’ fourth recorded score. Greb contributed an even par and a 1-under finish in the first and third rounds while Sloot contributed an even par in the second round. Despite her lower finish, Greb was still tied for 42nd in a 90-women tournament.
It all added up to a 4-under, 11 stroke win over second place the University of Mississippi. This is the second best, three round score that the women’s team has ever compiled.
The team will have a chance to show it was more than just an anomaly when they play at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown, Oct. 21-23.
Mack Beaulieu can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @Macknz_James.
