SANTA CLARA, Calif. – With little time to enjoy a program season-record third tournament championship, the Santa Clara women's golf team is back in action Monday competing in the Juli Inkster Spartan Invitational, hosted by San José State University at the 6,162-yard, par-72 Almaden Golf and Country Club in San José.
The Broncos came from eight shots back in the final round last week to tie Northern Arizona for a share of the Grand Canyon Invitational championship, Santa Clara's third team title of 2013-14. The Broncos have claimed two tournament wins in a season four other times, most recently in 2011-12.
"I'm so proud of my team," said head coach Krystal Kelly after last week's win. "This is a great start to our spring season."
The upcoming event figures to be a stiffer test for the Broncos as the field features all 13 teams among the top 123 in the recent Golfstat rankings. Oregon at 20th and UC Davis at 35th are the top ranked teams in the tournament with seven other squads - New Mexico (67), San José State (77), Portland State (82), Cal State Fullerton (84), San Francisco (89), Coastal Carolina (92) and Nevada (95) in the top 100. Santa Clara was ranked 105th by Golfstat on February 26.
The two-day, 54-hole event will tee off Monday with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. (PST). Teams and individuals will play two rounds consisting of 36 holes on the first day with a single 18-hole round on Tuesday.
Freshman Annie Freman has two of the team's three individual titles winning the Colby Invitational and Cal Poly Invitational in back-to-back weeks to close out the fall season. She tied with junior Kaci McCartan for sixth as the top Santa Clara finishers at last week's Grand Canyon Invitational and has placed in the top 10 in six of her seven events.
McCartan claimed SCU's other individual title winning the Boise State Invitational last September with the second-best 54 hole score in program history at 215 (-1).
Freman and McCartan, along with senior Taylor Camany, have competed in all seven events in 2013-14 and they will be joined by sophomores Monique Riley and Meghan Shain to form the Broncos' team at the Juli Inkster Invitational.
Coming off one of her best outings, Riley looks to build off the momentum of a career-best 12th place finish (tied) at the Grand Canyon Invitational. She also posted her best to par (+15) and 54-hole (231) score. Shain will be competing in her first event of the spring season.
Live scoring for the tournament is available at www.golfstat.com or click the link provided on the Bronco's website.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Name: Juli Inkster Spartan Invitational
Dates (Site): Monday and Tuesday, Mar. 3-4 (San José, Calif.)
Host: San José State University
Tournament Field (13 teams): Boise State (123), Cal State Fullerton (84), Coastal Carolina (92), Colorado State (121), Fresno State (101), Nevada (95), New Mexico (67), Oregon (20), Portland State (82), San Francisco (89), San José State (77), Santa Clara (105) and UC Davis (35)
Details: 54-hole event. Monday's 36-hole day tees off with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. (PT). Tuesday's final round of 18 holes tees off with a shotgun start also at 8:30 a.m.
Course: Almaden Golf and Country Club
Yardage/Par: 6,162 yards/Par 72
Website: www.almadengcc.org
Course Number/Address: (408) 268-4653
6663 Hampton Drive, San José, CA 95120
Live Scoring: GolfStat.com
