Completed Event: Women's Golf at Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational on September 29, 2025 , , T-8th of 15
W Golf
at Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational
T-8th of 15
Grand Canyon University Athletics
WAC champs start title defense
4/17/2019 6:42:00 PM | Women's Golf, Paul Coro
NMSU favored over GCU after Lopes, Patchana won last year
Last April, Grand Canyon's Siripatsorn Patchana knocked in the WAC Women's Golf Championship's final putt to clinch the team title for GCU, setting off a celebration with Lopes teammates running onto the green to douse her in water.
Four Lopes from that five-player championship lineup want almost everything to go the same when they defend GCU's title at this week's WAC Championship in Washington.
"Maybe not the water," Patchana said. "Not in Seattle. It's cold."
Even as defending champions with the reigning individual champion in Patchana, GCU is not the favorite to win at Oakbrook Golf Club near Seattle. Six of the eight other WAC head coaches picked New Mexico State because the Aggies boast two of the conference's top four players by average score.
The Lopes are motivated by the doubts and fortified by last year's experience, when they ended a NMSU four-year WAC dynasty with a one-stroke win.
"The girls have put a high expectation on themselves going into this," GCU head coach Lauren Giesecke said. "It's not, 'We have to go repeat.' It's, 'We need to go get our stuff done. We need to go play well.' If we do that, the scores will come and we'll be repeat champs.
"This year, everyone gets it and everyone is a little bit more experienced in this. We did it last year and they know what they have to do to get it done this year."
GCU finished in the top three of five of its 10 tournaments this school year, starting the spring with a win in a 15-team field in Riverside, Calif., and ending it with the program's second-best score ever to finish second among 14 teams in Fresno, Calif.
Sophomore Alexis Linam tied for the third-best round in college golf with a 7-under-par final round in Fresno. Junior Courtney Vogel has posted the team's lowest scoring average at 74.5 with Patchana nearby at 74.8. Team leader Carolina Sandstrom, a junior, also returns from the championship team and Payton Fehringer rounds out this year's quintet as arguably the WAC's best freshman.
"The team is in really good shape right now," Patchana said. "We have so much confidence going into conference. I think we're ready. We just need to go in calm and humble and I think we'll do really good. I'm really proud of this team."
Giesecke and assistant coach Kelli Bowers prepared the team for this week by putting them in similar climates throughout the year for tournaments in Portland, Ore., Seattle, Sacramento, Calif., and Fresno, Calif.
Last year, GCU had the home-climate advantage with the tournament being in Phoenix. The Lopes still have familiarity this year because Patchana played the course in a junior tournament, where she met Bowers to start her GCU relationship. Patchana is from Thailand but spent summers at her uncle's house in Seattle.
Rain is in the forecast for Thursday and Friday during the first two rounds of the tournament that ends Saturday.
"We've played in a lot of conditions where it's been rainy and cold," said Vogel, who has posted eight under-par rounds this season. "It'll be really crucial for us to be on top of the leaderboard the first day. I think it's going to be a great tournament for us. I think it's going to be another one of those tournaments where we're holding up the trophy and going to regionals again because we've all worked so hard and we have such a talented group. I'm so proud to be part of it. I have no doubt that we'll do well."
It is a young GCU team with two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman but a tight-knit one that sees this week's course as one that fits its style.
"I think everyone looks past us," Giesecke said. "We know we have a lot of talent. I think we're in a good spot right now."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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Four Lopes from that five-player championship lineup want almost everything to go the same when they defend GCU's title at this week's WAC Championship in Washington.
"Maybe not the water," Patchana said. "Not in Seattle. It's cold."
Even as defending champions with the reigning individual champion in Patchana, GCU is not the favorite to win at Oakbrook Golf Club near Seattle. Six of the eight other WAC head coaches picked New Mexico State because the Aggies boast two of the conference's top four players by average score.
The Lopes are motivated by the doubts and fortified by last year's experience, when they ended a NMSU four-year WAC dynasty with a one-stroke win.
"The girls have put a high expectation on themselves going into this," GCU head coach Lauren Giesecke said. "It's not, 'We have to go repeat.' It's, 'We need to go get our stuff done. We need to go play well.' If we do that, the scores will come and we'll be repeat champs.
"This year, everyone gets it and everyone is a little bit more experienced in this. We did it last year and they know what they have to do to get it done this year."
GCU finished in the top three of five of its 10 tournaments this school year, starting the spring with a win in a 15-team field in Riverside, Calif., and ending it with the program's second-best score ever to finish second among 14 teams in Fresno, Calif.
Sophomore Alexis Linam tied for the third-best round in college golf with a 7-under-par final round in Fresno. Junior Courtney Vogel has posted the team's lowest scoring average at 74.5 with Patchana nearby at 74.8. Team leader Carolina Sandstrom, a junior, also returns from the championship team and Payton Fehringer rounds out this year's quintet as arguably the WAC's best freshman.
"The team is in really good shape right now," Patchana said. "We have so much confidence going into conference. I think we're ready. We just need to go in calm and humble and I think we'll do really good. I'm really proud of this team."
Giesecke and assistant coach Kelli Bowers prepared the team for this week by putting them in similar climates throughout the year for tournaments in Portland, Ore., Seattle, Sacramento, Calif., and Fresno, Calif.
Last year, GCU had the home-climate advantage with the tournament being in Phoenix. The Lopes still have familiarity this year because Patchana played the course in a junior tournament, where she met Bowers to start her GCU relationship. Patchana is from Thailand but spent summers at her uncle's house in Seattle.
Rain is in the forecast for Thursday and Friday during the first two rounds of the tournament that ends Saturday.
"We've played in a lot of conditions where it's been rainy and cold," said Vogel, who has posted eight under-par rounds this season. "It'll be really crucial for us to be on top of the leaderboard the first day. I think it's going to be a great tournament for us. I think it's going to be another one of those tournaments where we're holding up the trophy and going to regionals again because we've all worked so hard and we have such a talented group. I'm so proud to be part of it. I have no doubt that we'll do well."
It is a young GCU team with two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman but a tight-knit one that sees this week's course as one that fits its style.
"I think everyone looks past us," Giesecke said. "We know we have a lot of talent. I think we're in a good spot right now."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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Players Mentioned
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
Head Coach Brent Nicoson Meets the Team | August 29, 2024
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