Cougars Finish Tournament At No. 11

SAHALEE C.C., Wash. (Oct. 6, 2004)--The BYU women's golf team carded a final-round 325 to finish 11th at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational in Washington on Wednesday.

The course continued to challenge the golfers as 10 of the 14 teams tallied higher scores in the third round than they did in the second round.

"Our scores might not show it, but we improved a lot during this tournament," BYU Coach Sue Nyhus said. "I'm still excited about the direction this team is heading."

Freshman Juli Wightman led the Cougars on Wednesday with a final-round 78. The Massachusetts native played a strong round, tallying only six bogeys on the challenging course. She also carded a team-high 12 pars during the round.

Her three round total of 240 tied her for No. 44, with teammate Rachel Newren, who added another birdie during the third round to give her a total of eight for the tournament.

Senior Margaret Gibby led the Cougars with her consistent play throughout the Invitational. Her three-round total of 237 was the Cougars' lowest total score. She ended the tournament in 31st place.

Ashley Childers showed great poise as a freshman by carding a 78-81-80--239. The freshman's efforts landed her just two strokes behind Gibby to finish in 42nd place.

Senior Natalie Newren finished the tournament in a tie at No. 63, after leading the Cougars in stroke average through the first two tournaments.

Overall, the Cougars look at the Invitational as a great learning opportunity.

"We learned a lot about ourselves," Nyhus said. "Now we know where we can improve and we're looking forward to the rest of a great season."

The team returns to action in two weeks at the Lady Aztec Invitational in Chula Vista, Calif. on Oct. 18-19.

Fin.   School               Scores
1 	    Oklahoma State       296-301-302--899 (+35)
T2 	   Washington           310-307-301--918 (+54)
T2 	   Oregon, U. of        300-304-314--918 (+54) 
4 	    Southern California  304-301-321--926 (+62) 
5 	    Pepperdine           298-316-316--930 (+66) 
6 	    UNLV                 318-307-307--932 (+68) 
T7 	   Washington State U.  310-305-323--938 (+74)
T7 	   San Francisco, U. of 318-304-316--938 (+74)
9 	    Stanford             308-312-320--940 (+76) 
10 	   California           320-308-313--941 (+77) 
11 	   Brigham Young Univ. 	314-313-325--952 (+88)
12 	   Long Beach State     320-329-319--968 (+104) 
13 	   Oregon State U.      334-323-328--985 (+121) 
14	    Stirling (Scotland)  344-343-344--1031(+167)
BYU Individual Results
Fin. Golfer           Scores
T31  Margaret Gibby   77-75-85--237 (+21)
T42  Ashley Childers  78-81-80--239 (+23)
T44  Rachel Newren    81-77-82--240 (+24)
T44  Juli Wightman    78-84-78--240 (+24)
T63  Natalie Newren   84-80-88--252 (+36)
71 participants