SHUHEI MATSUO
Sports Assistant
The fifth-ranked Pepperdine women’s golf team captured a victory when it shot a 17-over par 589 in the Santa Clara Colby Invitational on Tuesday.
The third win for the 2005-06 campaign gave 13th-year head coach Laurie Gibbs her 25th career tournament victory.
The Waves didn’t just win the 13-team tournament at the Rancho Canada Golf Club in Carmel Valley, Calif., for the first time, they dominated the field.
UC Riverside took the second place with a 632, 43 shots behind Pepperdine. Host Santa Clara took the third with a 634, followed by Sacramento State’s 647 and Wyoming 650.
Individually, junior All-American Eileen Vargas shot the only under-par score 1-under 70 in the first round and captured an individual medalist honor, shooting a 1-over 73 on the second day to finish the 36-hole tournament with an even-par 143.
Vargas’ individual victory was followed by her teammate Marina Choi. The sophomore Wave posted a 7-over 150, followed by senior All-American Carolina Llano and sophomore Leanne Bowditch, who tied for 4th place. Llano and Bowditch both shot an 8-over 151 and tied for the third place.
Four of the top-five finishes were Pepperdine golfers. The course conditions, however, were not that favorable, Bowditch said.
She said that a fog covered the course during the tournament, which made the greens bumpy and the course wet.
But still, the Waves were able to maintain their low scores and overwhelm the field.
“It was kind of nice to get back to the winning track,” Bowditch said.
Joining Vargas, Choi, Llano and Bowditch, two other Pepperdine golfers captured the top-10 finishes. Senior Courtney Clark tied for the fifth place with a 152, while freshman Jayvie Agojo finished seventh after shooting a 153.
Although freshman Nicole Montgomery tied for 12th with an 11-over 154 and did not make the top 10, she had the shot of the tournament. On the par-3 151-yard seventh hole, she hit a 5-iron and recorded a hole-in-one.
Montgomery’s hole-in-one was the first for a Pepperdine player in tournament competition since Llano’s ace on the par-3 15th hole during the 2003 NCAA Fall Preview Tournament in Auburn, Ala.
The Waves are next in action beginning March 31 when they play at the PING Arizona State Invitational at the Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz.
03-16-2006
