Westmont golf continues to compete in Surprise

By JACOB NORLING WESTMONT SPORTS WRITER

Westmont men’s and women’s golf was back at it on Tuesday for day two of the Golden State Athletic Conference Championships. Westmont’s women moved up the leaderboard on day two, while Westmont’s men found themselves in a tight race in the middle of the pack.

For the men, Westmont currently finds themselves tied for fifth place with Vanguard, after the men shot a combined 12 over par on Tuesday. Westmont’s tworound score is +27, which is the same as Vanguard’s going into day three.

OUAZ (-7), The Master’s (2), Arizona Christian (+8), and Menlo (+11) remain in front of the Warriors.

Individually, Peyton Hendricks had another stellar day for the Warriors, this time shooting a 71 to move his overall score to two under par. With a combined score of -2, Hendricks currently sits in a tie for fifth place. Colby Watkins of OUAZ currently leads with a score of -8.

Behind Hendricks, Andy Knight is Westmont’s next-best scorer, as he sits in a tie for 14th place after scoring three over par on Tuesday. Knight’s tworound total currently has him five over par.

Westmont’s third golfer, Brock Yurkovich, sits in a tie for 27th after shooting three over on Tuesday, and Cooper Allen, Westmont’s fourth, shot a 79.

“On the men’s side, Peyton Hendricks led the way again,” said Westmont head coach Josh Ault. “He shot one under, and it’s great to see him top-five going into the final day of the tournament.

“As a team, the guys may be a bit disappointed, because they wanted something special out of this. In my opinion, however, I think we’ve done a great job of competing. We shot a 300 today, and breaking 300 is a team goal, so we are right there.

“We aren’t playing poorly. We are playing good golf, and in a very competitive field.”

On the women’s side, the

Warriors will enter day three in fourth place, which is a spot higher than the club was on Monday. On Tuesday, Westmont shot collectively 30 over, which put them one stroke ahead of Hope International for fourth.

Currently in front of Westmont is OUAZ (+32), Vanguard (+41), and Menlo (+43). Westmont’s combined two-round score is +59.

Individually for the women, Meredith McDougal finds herself in a ninth-place tie, after shooting seven over on Tuesday.

McDougal’s two-round score has her at 10 over par, with the current leader being three over going into day three (Vanguard’s Brooklyn Motske).Next on the leaderboard for Westmont is Charlie Bloom, who is tied for 14th place after also shooting a 79.

Rounding out Westmont’s score was Elizabeth Oloteo, who shot an 80, and Sydnee Magpoc, who also shot eight over. Mallory Hopper, Westmont’s fifth, shot 13 over the day.

“On the women’s side, Meredith is playing really well to be in the top-10,” reflected Ault. “We had a lot of consistency on the women’s side, which was really good. You see 79, 79, 80, 80 and you like to see your team playing at a consistent level.

“We’ve talked about consistency all year. They said they felt like today was average, and to me, that’s a positive thing. That shows me growth in how we are coming to expect more of ourselves as a very young team. We are playing the type of golf that I hope our young team would be playing this time of year, and I’m proud of them.”

Ault continued, “We’re looking forward to playing tomorrow. We still have a lot to play for, and we’d like to see if we can have a couple teams with top-four finishes.”

The GSAC Championships conclude on Wednesday at Briarwood Country Club, where the Warriors will hope to gather conference honors.

Jacob Norling is the sports information assistant at Westmont College.