SPOKANE – Emma Kang earned medalists honors and the Idaho Vandal women's golf team picked its first tournament win of the season, finishing nine strokes ahead of tournament host Eastern Washington at the Tri-State Invitational played at The Creek at Qualchan in Spokane.
Kang birdied her first hole of the tournament to set the tone, she finished the first round in second place with a one-under 71. She was two-over in the second round, to finish in a tie for the top spot, but was awarded the individual title in a scorecard playoff.
"I am very proud of our team's performance over the past two days," head coach
Stephanie Young said. "They played with purpose and competed for each other. It's been a total group effort and a great feeling that we can count on any one of them to lead us in competition. Congratulations to the team on a tournament win and a very special shoutout to
Emma Kang on her first collegiate win!"
Jenna Bruggeman and
Zoe Newell tied for fifth overall at four-over. Newell's tournament highlight came on the 18th-hole of the first round. She hit her second shot of the par-5 around 215 just past the pin and rolled it back into hole for her first-career albatross. She was even on day one and four-over on day two to earn the top-five finish. Bruggeman was one over in the first round and three-over on day two to equal Newell's finish.
Kaylin Johnson was seven-over for the tournament to finish in a tie for 14th.
Emma Heyman was eight-over in the first round but responded with a Vandal second-round low even par to climb 10 spots to 16th on the weekend.
Golfing as individuals, Laura Caamano was 13-over for a 26th-place finish,
Boram Jung was 18-over for a 28th-place finish and
Sofia Lippiello was 35th at 29-over.
The win was the second in as many seasons for the Vandals and the sixth top-three finish in the last three seasons under Young.
The Vandals are back in action for the fifth consecutive weekend and the final tournament of the fall next week in Portland.
"We have another quick turnaround to work on some things to get ready for the final event of the fall at Portland State this weekend," Young said.
The Vandals play next Monday and Tuesday at the Columbia Edgewater Country Club.
