Windy conditions did not faze the men’s nor women’s golf teams as both finished sitting in the upper echelon of the leaderboard at No. 4 at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas from Sept. 30-Oct. 2.
Although it was very sunny all week with temperatures ranging in the low 80s, the wind certainly impacted each day. The wind was recorded to be blowing from 3-12 mph each day with the occasional wind gust in the teens. At every hole of Blessings Golf Club, the wind went in a different direction when the player was facing the hole with the way the course is laid out.
This is not even accounting for the length of the course. Blessings Golf Club measures 7,928 yards for the men and 6,571 yards for the women. In context, the average length of NCAA courses ranges between 6,600-7,300 yards for men and 6,000-6,300 yards for women.
Because of these grueling challenges, the first-place finishers for the men and women were the only ones to shoot under par for the tournament. LSU's men and Arkansas' women were the only ones to do so.
Nevertheless, the BYU men’s team turned in a respectable score of 892 (298-285-299) which put it at 28-over par. That is 30 shots behind first place LSU who shot two-under par for the tournament and contained the top two individual finishers.
The BYU women’s team was carded with a score of 899 (294-300-305) which put them at 35-over par. That is 47 shots behind first-place Arkansas, which shot 12-under par and contained three of the top four individual finishers.
The highlight of the invitational came from top finisher from both BYU squads, Maria Jose “MJ” Barragan. This was her third shot on hole 15 which was a par five. Her wedge shot from a little over 100 yards out was placed perfectly about five feet in front of the pin and rolled in for eagle. This was fresh off of a bogey on 13 and double bogey on 14, so this was a much needed hole out to get her back in the swing of it.
Barragan ended up finishing sixth by shooting one-over par with a score of 217 (71-72-74) for the tournament. She put the team on her back and led them in eagles, birdies, and pars shot for the week. She stayed red hot as this is now her third straight top-10 finish including being fresh off a tie for second in the Red Raider Invitational last week, Sept. 24-25.
The rest of the lineup for the women was sophomore Lilly Denunzio, freshman Kanyanol (Naji) Aramkul, sophomore Whitney Banz, and senior Alexa Udom. Aramkul (77-73-77-227) placed 17th overall at 11-over par. Denunzio (76-76-76-228) with pristine consistency placed 19th overall at 12-over par. Banz (82-81-78-241) placed 47th overall at 25-over par.
Odum (70-79-91-240) had a monumental collapse in the third round that killed her ranking. She shot bogey or worse on half the holes which dropped her 35 places after the final round.
As for the men, senior Cole Ponich (76-71-74-221) snuck into the top 10 finishing 10th overall at five-over for the week. He led the team with 10 birdies for the week.
Most of the rest of the lineup were right behind Ponich. Sophomore Peter Kim (73-73-76-222) tied for 12th overall at six-over. Junior Simon Kwon (75-74-74-223) went seven-over which tied him for 15th.
Sophomore Angus Klintworth (74-77-75-226) made the first start of his career and shot nine-over. This put him tied for 22nd overall.
Junior Tyson Shelley (77-79-82-238) has yet to find his groove in tournament play this season. Despite getting an eagle on hole 5 on the first day and shooting three-under from the front nine, he could not maintain the hot start for the rest of the tournament. He shot 22-over par tying him for 49th overall.
This tournament will be the only one all season where the men and women compete at the same tournament during the same time period.