TACOMA, Wash. – The UBC Thunderbirds have just put the world of NCAA Division I Women's Golf on notice.
The T-Birds, competing in Seattle University's Harbottle Invitational, had the deck stacked against them. They were in a massive 17-team field, where 15 of their 16 opponents were NCAA DI schools, the toughest possible competition at the collegiate level.
The only other non-DI team at the event was Division II St Martin's University (+92) which finished in last place by nearly 40 strokes. Contrastingly, UBC (-1) earned an astounding third place, one of three teams to shoot under par during the three round event and seven strokes ahead of fourth place Santa Clara (+6) and UC Irvine (+6). The incredible top-three finish is the best for the 'Birds in a field with 10 or more NCAA DI teams in at least a decade.
Continuing her brilliant start to the season,
Grace Bell (-4) just missed a top-three individual finish as well, instead taking a tie for fourth after shooting par or better in every round.'
Defending Cascade Conference Player of the Year
Elizabeth Labbe (E) was next up for UBC, tying for 13
th after finishing each round within a stroke of par.
Una Chou (+3) used two rounds at even par to tie for 24
th, followed closely by
Bo Brown (+4) who was top-10 after the opening round before ending up tied for 28
th on the tightly grouped leaderboard.
First-year
Sienna Harder (+8) also more than held her own by placing 43
rd, meaning all five Thunderbirds were in the top half of the 98-player DI field.
Despite few expecting the blue and gold to be a contender among massive and storied sports schools like Gonzaga, Fresno State, and the University of Idaho, the T-Birds showed that they were there to win right away. UBC finished the first round at -1, sitting as runner-up and just one stroke back of then-leader California Baptist (-2).
Round two saw the 'Birds fair even better, firing a combined -3 to move to -4 for the event. Unfortunately for them, other teams also managed to cut strokes in round two, so the blue and gold were in third place and four shots behind eventual tournament winner CSU Fullerton (-8) heading into the last 18.'
UBC held steady in the final round on Tuesday, shooting +3 to comfortably keep those chasing them at bay and secure a highly impressive third place finish.
The T-Birds will be back on the course for a third straight week at the Canada West Championship taking place October 7-8 in Kelowna. The event, hosted by the UBCO Heat, will be held on the Bear Course of the Okanagan Golf Club. UBC men's and women's golf teams are both the defending conference champions, with the women having won the event for four straight years.
