UC Riverside’s women’s golf team was in action at Riverside’s Oak Quarry Golf Club for the 15-team Battle at The Rock tournament held Monday, Feb. 13 to Tuesday, Feb. 14. The Highlanders finished in third place overall and senior Paris Griffith and freshman Hailey White finished tied for fifth place overall in individual scoring.
Day one saw UCR senior Haley Wian shoot a career-best 4-under-par 68, beating her previous best round by two strokes which was set at last year’s Battle at The Rock tournament. Her score was also the lowest score for the entire event. The Highlanders were sitting at 14th overall in the tournament after Monday’s first round with a team score of 325, but were vaulted to a tie for fourth place thanks to Wian’s second round performance bringing the team score to 288. Individually the Highlanders’ “A” team saw Griffith finish at 72, Hannah Facchini and Jakeishya Le at 74 and Yuri Ahn at 80.
Tuesday’s day-two final round featured Griffith shooting a 2-under-par 70 which tied her record for 18 holes that she coincidently set in the final round of last year’s Battle at The Rock. Coupled with White’s two-over 74 round, the blue and gold were able to shoot a second-best team score of 300 following up on their tournament best team score of 288. Unfortunately, Monday’s 325 team score was too much to bounce back from as the Highlanders secured third place overall for the tournament. Final round scores included Griffith at 70, Facchini at 75, Le at 76, Ahn at 79 and Wian at 84.
The impressive third place finish seems to be a continuation of the fall season that saw three top-five finishes for the Highlanders, who have a strong core of young players expected to make an impact on this team for years to come. UCR Head Coach Mary Ritchie told gohighlanders.com, “I was very pleased with the poise and maturity she (White) showed,” when speaking on White’s top-five finish in her third tournament competing for UCR.
UCR will keep it local for their next match at the CBU Invitational on Monday, Feb. 20 to Tuesday, Feb. 21 as the Highlanders look to build on this weekend’s momentum.
