Fraser Valley (Dan Kinvig) – GOLF: Cascades men’s and women’s teams both finish second at Vikes Shootout
The University of the Fraser Valley men’s and women’s golf teams both posted runner-up results at the Vikes Shootout this week, finishing second to their counterparts from UBC.
The event ran Sunday and Monday at Cordova Bay Golf Club in Victoria.
CASCADES MEN’S TEAM FALLS IN A PLAYOFF
The men’s squad came within a whisker of winning the team title, only to fall to the Thunderbirds in a playoff.
The Cascades and Thunderbirds finished with matching team scores of +10 through 36 holes. To settle matters, the teams sent all five of their golfers out to play the 18th hole, with the top four scores counting. The Cascades struggled with their approach shots, though, and posted a collective score of +1 on the hole to UBC’s -2 and settled for second place.
Afterward, head coach Aaron Pauls noted that his team had their chances to win in regulation – notably, Eli Greene burned the edge with a birdie putt on 17 and had another birdie attempt on 18 lip out.
“It was about as close as we could have come,” noted Pauls, whose team also finished second to UBC at the Canada West championships back in October. “Unfortunately it didn’t work out for us today.
“We had a lot of chances before it ever got to the playoff. One positive thing is that we were never that close to UBC in the fall, so tying through regulation is a good step. We just didn’t do our best in the playoff.”
Jacob Armstrong led the way for the Cascades, firing rounds of 69 and 71 to finish in solo second place individually, three strokes back of individual winner Robin Conlan of the host UVic Vikes. Greene (68-74, E) was fourth, while Jackson Jacob (70-75, +3) gave UFV a third top-10 finisher, ending up in eighth place. Ben Whiton (T-23, +10) and Jacob Lucki (T-27, +12) rounded out the UFV contingent.
“Jacob’s a stud – he’s just so solid at so many areas of the game,” Pauls said of Armstrong. “He doesn’t make a whole lot of mistakes, and when he does, he takes a bogey and moves on. Steady, steady guy, and he works his tail off. He came to our team three years ago and he was fighting to get into the lineup. Now he’s fighting to win tournaments, and it’s great to see.”
HAMADE, PARK LEAD THE WAY FOR UFV WOMEN’S TEAM
On the women’s side, the Cascades battled their way up the leaderboard to second place, improving on their fourth-place result at the Canada West championships.
UFV posted a +42 team score, well behind the victorious UBC squad (-13), but they were able to top UBC Okanagan (+44) and UVic (+54) and Calgary (+56) for the silver.
Coral Hamade was the top Cascade, firing rounds of 80 and 77 to finish at +11, good for solo eighth place individually. Lucy Park (+13) was just two strokes back, tied for ninth. Emery Bardock (+20) tied for 17th, Alex Brunner (+25) was 23rd, Avery Biggar (+39) was 32nd, and Ella Gifford – competing as an individual – was 25th at +28.
UBC’s Sonja Tang was the individual winner at -7.
“The result is good – to be able to bounce back from fourth place Canada West and finish second in the Vikes Shootout,” UFV head coach Cody Stewart said. “It’s a great tournament and a great representation of our conference. Finishing second is a good accomplishment, and a good confidence boost moving forward.”
Stewart lauded the play of Hamade and Park, both of whom are still in their first year of eligibility.
“To know that that’s the future of our program, it’s exciting moving forward,” he said. “Coral is getting better and better. Every week she’s showing signs of more confidence, and limiting mistakes. As far as Lucy goes, it wasn’t her best, but she was still able to finish top-10 in a very strong tournament. She’s one of our leaders, and she continues to show it on the leaderboard.”
UP NEXT
The Cascades women’s golf team has a pair of stateside tournaments coming up – the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate in Las Vegas (March 14-16) and the UCSC Spring Invite in Pacific Grove, Calif. (March 25-27).
The next event for the men is the UFV Spring Invitational, which will also feature the women’s team. That event runs April 1-3 at Chilliwack Golf Club.
