Little Paces No. 35 Oregon Women’s Golfers in New Mexico Golf Opener

Looking ahead, UO next plays with their men’s counterparts at the Giustina Memorial Classic, Monday-Tuesday, September 28-29 at the Trysting Tree Golf Course in Corvallis, Ore.

Salem-News.com Sports

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Junior Kendra Little held on to win the Branch Law Firm / Dick McGuire Invitational individual title Sunday, while the No. 35 University of Oregon women’s golf team remained in fifth place in the 30th annual event hosted on the par-73 University of New Mexico Championship course.

The Eugene, Ore., native Little (73-68-68-141) kept her one-stroke advantage over New Mexico’s defending champion Jodi Ewart (second, 69-71-68-208), while Pepperdine’s Taylore Karle climbed a position into third place (71-71-69-211).

Just like her second round the day before, Little again tied the third-best score in school history and was only two strokes off former teammate’s Cathryn Bristow school record 7-under mark (65) from 2008. Little’s three-round tourney score also tied the third-best tourney score in Duck history that she already set last fall at the Giustina Memorial Classic in Corvallis, Ore.

On Sunday, Little logged seven birdies (#5, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17), nine par scorers (#1-3, 6, 7, 10, 12, 15, 18) and had only two bogeys on the fourth and eighth holes.

UO’s other entries included sophomore Ashley Edwards (24th-t, 74-73-77-224), senior Kate Hildahl (45th-t, 76-76-75-227), freshman Cheyenne Hickle (50th-t, 76-76-76-228) and junior Erica Omlid (62nd-t, 77-78-76-231).

For comparison’s sake, Duck individual rankings from Saturday follow: Little (first), Edwards (18th), Hildahl (45th), Hickle (45th) and Omlid (66th-t).

Little’s win was her third as a collegian after she won the 2008 Giustina Memorial Classic in Corvallis (69-73-73-215) and 2008 Oregon Duck Invitational in Eugene (70-73-71-214). The win marked UO’s eighth victory the last five seasons with other victories courtesy of Cathryn Bristow (3), Felicia Eastick (1) and Kim McCready (1).

In the team standings, the Ducks again logged a sub-300 total (295) and ended with a nine-over score of 885 (297-293-295). No. 14 Pepperdine extended its lead by two strokes to win (288-287-284-859), and was followed by host and No. 22 New Mexico (second, 294-286-286-866) and No. 33 UNLV (third-tie, 291-292-300-883) and No. 31 TCU (third-tie, 291-291-301-883).

Teams trailing the Ducks included UC Davis (sixth, 302-295-290-887), No. 59 Northwestern (seventh, 297-294-297-888), No. 55 Indiana (eighth, 297-296-301-894), No. 30 UC Irvine (ninth, 304-294-300-898), No. 47 Colorado (10th, 310-296-297-903), No. 36 Texas A&M (12th-t, 303-303-298-904), No. 16 Arkansas (12th-t, 300-303-305-908), No. 34 San Francisco (14th, 295-311-304-910), No. 60 Oklahoma (15th, 306-303-305-914), No. 61 Colorado State (16th, 304-304-307-915), UTEP (17th, 308-301-308-917) and Wyoming (18th, 306-312-316-934).

Final results are available via the www.GolfStat.com website at the http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=1676 link.

The two-day season-opening tournament also marked the first event for new Oregon head coach Ria Quiazon who became the fourth Duck women’s golf mentor in June.

Looking ahead, UO next plays with their men’s counterparts at the Giustina Memorial Classic, Monday-Tuesday, September 28-29 at the Trysting Tree Golf Course in Corvallis, Ore.

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