Idaho women’s golf is now ranked ninth after the two rounds played Tuesday during the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational. These matches were hosted by University of Washington at the Sahalee County Club. Junior Michelle Kim and junior Sophie Hausmann tied for 19th individually at 8-over.
Idaho head coach Lisa Johnson said in a news release that her team improved on a challenging course.
“This tournament is one of the best and most challenging in the country,” Johnson said. “We improved our play from yesterday and will take what we learned to next week’s practice and our final tournaments of the season.”
Idaho finished 20-over 308 in the first round and 25-over 313 in the afternoon.
Johnson said she recognized the team was not up to par.
“We need to do a better job of hitting the green, regardless of how close we are to the pin, our previous tournaments we were able to go at the flag,” Johnson said. “Here, if you short side yourself it becomes very difficult. I’m hopeful that we will learn from the course today. Most everyone had a good stretch of holes where they felt good about how they played. We need to draw on those moments.”
Kim and Hausmann had very similar outings.
Kim opened round one with a 73, Idaho’s best score of the day. Bogeying holes 12 and 15 and birding 17 to get a stroke back resulted in a par on 18 to finish the round at 1-over. Kim ended the final round of the day with a 79.
Hausmann started her opening round with nine straight pars. The back nine didn’t treat her as well with three bogies. She ended the last round with 78. This was only Hausmann’s second Vandal appearance of the season due to a back injury.
Johnson said she had high praise for Hausmann’s performances.
“Sophie hasn’t played a lot of golf,” she said. “I am really proud of how she has handled the mental preparation for this tournament, she hasn’t been able to physically prepare the way she would like or is used to, so to put together two solid rounds is a testament to her mental preparation.”
The Vandals will swing back into action Oct. 22-24 at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown.
Marisa Lloyd can be reached at [email protected]