LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. — Grand Canyon women's golf entered the spring season with a program-best NCAA ranking of No. 82 and finished the fall campaign with two tournament victories. The victory tally moved to three kon Wednesday after a first-place showing at the BGSU Women's Intercollegiate.
The tournament saw high scores from all 14 teams who competed at the Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, a 40-minute drive from GCU's campus. The Lopes finished 44 over, five strokes better than second-place Idaho and 16 strokes higher than third-place Ball State.
Three Lopes finished in the top 10 out of a field of 78 golfers. Junior
Leighton Shosted shot 8 over for fourth place to lead the Lopes. Shosted tallied nine birdies and an eagle over the course of 54 holes and was one of nine players to register an eagle. Shosted had four of her nine birdies in her final round to help pace GCU to the team title.
One stroke behind her was Lopes senior
Constanza Guerrero, who tied for fifth at 9 over par. Guerrero recorded 11 birdies, tied for most among the field. After six birdies over Tuesday's first and second rounds, Guerrero notched five Wednesday to move up six spots for a top-five placement.
Sophomore teammate
Ryan Flynn tied for seventh at 10 over with three birdies Wednesday. Flynn joined Guerrero and Shosted with scores of 3 over on par-4 holes, which put them tied for third among the field. Flynn also led the squad with 33 pars, tied for third most in the tournament.
GCU sophomore
Amelia Curtis, in her first NCAA tournament, tied for 19th while senior teammate
Becca Tschetter tied for 58th. A pair of freshmen also competed for the first time as individualls in
Brenna Preap and
Lena Tremouille. Preap tied for 23rd while Tremouille tied for 27th.
The Lopes tallied the best par-4 scoring among the field, averaging scores of 4.3 on such holes. They tied for most pars with 147 and had the third most birdies (35) over the two days.
GCU takes a week off before hosting the GCU Invitational at GCU Golf Course. The two-day tournament begins Tuesday, Feb. 27, with 36 holes and ends Wednesday, Feb. 28, with one round.