SOMIS, Calif. – The Santa Clara women's golf team survived hazardous conditions at the Saticoy Country Club climbing into a third-place finish and freshman Kristin Le earned first team all-conference honors at the West Coast Conference Championship which concluded today.
A brutal course got even tougher when Santa Ana winds started blowing through the Ventura County countryside and scores went up with the gusts. The Broncos used a second-round 305, which was the second-lowest of the tournament, to gain ground on the rest of the field and survived a final-round 325 to claim their 10th third-place finish at the event. Santa Clara has never finished higher than third in the 18-year history of the championship tournament.
"Obviously, I'm really happy with the result today," head coach Krystal Kelly said. "The golf course was borderline unplayable with wind kicking up, speed of the greens and challenging hole locations."
Those elements led to lofty scores with favorite Pepperdine capturing its 14th straight title with a comeback win. The Waves entered the final round two shots behind Gonzaga but carded a 306 Wednesday to pull away for a 16-shot win over USF.
Freshman Kristin Le led the Broncos at 235 (+19) tied for eighth place. She rebounded with rounds of 75 and 78 over the final two rounds after opening with an 82. Le finished seven shots behind medalist Marissa Chow of Pepperdine (228), who edged teammate Somin Lee by one shot.
Le was the only Bronco to score below 80 in the final round and was named to the All-WCC First Team for her effort.
"I've never seen so many players get punished for hitting good shots," Kelly said after watching just eight of 25 players score below 80 in the final round.
Sophomore Annie Freman finished in 13th place at 241 with Meghan Shain a shot back of her teammate at 242 tied for 14th. Ashley Noda and Monique Riley both scored 246.
"I'm really proud of them for staying patient out there today," Kelly added. "I think they gained a tremendous amount of experience this season and more specifically in the last four days. And I'm excited that we have this entire squad returning next season."
WCC CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM RESULTS
1. Pepperdine 311-312-306 = 929 (+65)
2. San Francisco 318-308-319 = 945 (+81)
3 Santa Clara 325-305-325 = 955 (+91)
4. Gonzaga 317-304-335 = 956 (+92)
5. BYU 324-316-323 = 963 (+99)
SANTA CLARA INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
T8. Kristin Le 82-75-78 = 235 (+19)
13. Annie Freman 83-77-81 = 241 (+25)
T14. Meghan Shain 86-75-82 = 243 (+27)
T18. Ashley Noda 76-85-85 = 246 (+30)
T18. Monique Riley 84-78-84 = 246 (+30)
