Lopes tie for 2nd in Fresno State Classic

Monday, March 27

Fresno, Calif. | San Joaquin CC

Grand Canyon

Fresno State Classic

Photo by: Garrett Ohrenberg

3/27/2023 9:06:00 PM | Women's Golf

Results

Flynn finishes in 4th place at 2 over

By: Nick Macdonald

FRESNO, Calif. – For the fifth straight tournament, the Grand Canyon women's golf team placed in the top three, earning a share of second place in the Fresno State Classic at the San Joaquin Country Club on Tuesday.

GCU shot 28 over par for the tournament, tying with UC Riverside and finishing five strokes off host Fresno State. Highlights from the Lopes included three top-15 finishes and a fourth-place showing from freshman Ryan Flynn, who shot 2 over par.

Flynn entered Tuesday at even par and ended her day at 2 over, totaling nine birdies in two days. GCU led the 15-team field in birdies with 43, six better than the next. It was also the only team in the field to have an under-par score on par 3s, averaging a score of 2.92. Flynn tied for second in par-5 scoring, shooting 3 under par on such holes with rounds of 73, 71 and 74 for the tournament.

Behind Flynn and also in the top 15 were juniors Constanza Guerrero and Carly Strole. Guerrero tied for 11th at 6 over par while Strole tied for 13th at 7 over par. The Lopes duo combined for 20 birdies while both placed in the top 5 on par-3 scoring. The Lopes were the only team to place three players in the top 15 at the end of 54 holes.

GCU junior Becca Tschetter tied for 34th at 13 over par while senior Carmen Belmonte finished 72nd at 20 over par.

Since the beginning of the spring season on Feb. 6, GCU has placed in the top three of each event with two second-place finishes and a first-place victory. It has two regular-season tournaments left before the WAC Championship in Blaine, Washington, on April 23-25. Its next competition starts Sunday in the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Classic.

Day 1 recap

Entering the week with four straight top-three finishes, the Grand Canyon women's golf team concluded 36 holes of the Fresno State Classic on Monday in sole possession of first place at 8 over par with three players in the top 10 of the leaderboard.

GCU shot 6 over par as a team in the first round and 2 over par in the second round at the San Joaquin Country Club to be at 8 over par, two strokes over second-place Fresno State (10 over par) and four strokes over third-place Long Beach State (12 over par).

As what's been the theme for the Lopes, they lead the field in birdies with 32, five better than the next. It also enters Tuesday's final round with the best par-4 scoring average at 4.16.

Just one stroke off the lead in a tie for third is Guerrero, who shot rounds of 70 and 73 to be 1 under par overall. Guerrero tallied nine birdies and had a stretch of three birdies through four holes on the front nine in the first round. Flynn is one stroke behind Guerrero (tied for seventh) at even par. Flynn had six birdies for her day and shot 1 under in the second round.

Strole also carded a top-10 finish and is tied for 10th at 2 over par. After a first-round 75, Strole jumped 16 spots with a second-round 71 that included four birdies. GCU is the only team in the 15-team field with three players in the top 10.

Tschetter (7 over par, tied for 31st) and Belmonte (13 over par, tied for 66th) combined for 10 of the team's 32 birdies.

The final round begins with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. (Phoenix time).