The UBC Thunderbirds continued their dominant start to the Cascade Conference season as both the men's and women's teams won their second consecutive CCC tournament to open the year.
The men's team led their side of the Warrior Fall Invitational from start to finish, ultimately pulling away from the field with a 36 stroke victory. The half of the women's team at the WFI had a tougher test on their hands. Trailing Oregon Tech ahead of the final round, the T-Birds mounted a comeback through poor conditions, erasing the deficit to win by two strokes and extending their multi-year Cascade Conference winning streak in the process. Meantime, the other half of the women's squad held their own against NCAA Division I competition at the Coeur D'alene Resort Invitational, finishing around the middle of the pack in eighth.
Directly on the heels of a third place finish at the Saint Martin Bishop's Invitational over the weekend, the No. 2-ranked T-Birds men's golf program took a convincing twenty-seven stroke lead Monday following two rounds of the 2023 Warrior Fall Invitational. The 'Birds never looked back from there, winning the team title by 36 strokes over No. 20-ranked Lewis-Clark State College.
UBC took home three of the top five spots on the individual leader board, with first year
Manu Gandhi winning his first ever individual crown following round scores of 73, 69, and 69 to finish at 211 (-5) and the only red number as a final score for anyone at Pine Ridge Golf Club this week.
Dylan MacDonald (218, +2) took runner-up while
Mackenzie Bickell (222, +6) was alone in fourth place.
On the women's side, consistency was key in order for No. 1-ranked T-Birds to take first overall at the WFI, as only two team strokes separated UBC and Lewis-Clark State College once the scorecards were tallied and submitted.
Abigaille Chow was named the Individual Champion with back-to-back round scores of 76 for a 152 (+8) showing.
Bo Brown also cracked the top 10, tying for eighth by carding of tournament total of 161 (+17). Not to be overlooked however are the contributions of the two other T-Birds, including
Coco Pei playing in her first ever tournament for UBC. Because half of the team was competing elsewhere, the 'Birds did not have the luxury of dropping their highest scoring golfer from the team total like many of their opponents. Therefore
Emily Li (166, +22) and Pei (171, +27) finishing in the top half of the field proved essential for the blue and gold to pull out the narrow win.
The 'Birds also took on what could be their toughest test of the entire season by having the other half of the women's team compete against NCAA Division I schools at Gonzaga University's tournament, the Coeur D'alene Resort Invitational. UBC sat as high as fifth place early in the third round, but eventually finished eighth.
Una Chou (212, -1) led the way for the T-Birds once again, following up her season-opening individual win at the Oregon Tech Fall Invitational with a fifth place finish against much stiffer competition. First year
Tina Jiang (219, +6) also impressed in a difficult test for her first ever tournament with UBC, cracking the top 25 in a deep and talented field.
FULL TEAM LEADER BOARD
FULL INDIVIDUAL LEADER BOARD
Both T-Birds golf teams are back in action in less than a week for their first tournament of the season on this side of the border. They will be competing for the Canada West Championship at Ledgeview Golf Club in nearby Abbotsford. Both sides are set to tee off the morning of Monday, October 2nd for the two-day tournament, which the women's team won last year while the men finished in second.
