PORTLAND – In an excellent example of improving as a tournament goes along, the UBC Thunderbirds continued their Cascade Collegiate Conference winning streak as they claimed both men's and women's titles at the Tournament of Knights hosted by Warner Pacific in Oregon.
Battling through some rainy conditions, the UBC women's team swept away the field with five of the top six individual scores.
Keira Hou (+6) claimed the individual title, followed by teammates
Sienna Harder (+7),
Jessica Ng (+8),
Morgan Best (+8) and
Sarah Yang (+10), the last of whom tied Oregon Tech's Sydney Dick for fifth place on the leaderboard.
The T-Birds' overall team score of +21 was 32 strokes ahead of the Owls in second place. Already out in front by 11 strokes after a +17 total in the first round, the Thunderbirds dominated the course in round two with a +4, just about tripling their lead over their nearest competition.
While Hou had the consistency required to take the tournament win, the trio of Harder, Ng and Yang each had a round with a score of even par or better, the only three golfers at the event to do so. Harder's single-round tournament-low of -1 on day two shot her from ninth to second place, while Yang had a similar bounce going from 13th all the way up to a tie for fifth.
The result improves the UBC women to a three-for-three record in CCC events on the season, earning their sixth event win overall.
It was also a third CCC win for the men (and fifth victory overall), although it was a closer contest. The 'Birds posted a team score of -7 for the tournament, defeating Lewis-Clark State by just two strokes.
The second and third rounds provided some fantastic performances from the blue and gold, as after posting a collective score of +6 in the first round – putting them in third place and eight strokes back of the lead – they had rounds of -7 and -6 to finish off the event, shooting them up to the top of the leaderboard.
It was a true team effort for the Thunderbirds, as while the Warriors' Luke West (-6) and Adam Lovatt (-5) laid claim to the two best individual scores, the 'Birds had four of the next five best marks to take the team win.
Jake Houston (-3) led the way for UBC, followed by
Manpreet Lalh (-2),
Leighton Wright (-1) and
Aneesh Kaura (E).
Shunkichi Yamamoto finished tied for ninth (+2) while competing as an independent, with
Tim Hachey (+6, T18) rounding out the team.
Kaura and Wright each had a round where they shot -4 (tied for second-best at the tournament) while Houston was one of only two golfers to shoot even par or better in each round.
The Thunderbirds will now set their sights on defending their conference crowns at the CCC Championships, which run from April 27 to 29 at the Lewiston Golf & Country Club in Idaho.
