University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Red Rocks Intercollegiate
Judge Leads Spartans At Red Rocks Invitational
2/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Feb. 28, 2010
Sedona, Ariz. - Jennifer Judge shot a final round 79 to lead the USC Upstate women's golf team in the Red Rocks Invitational, pacing the Spartans to shave 10 strokes off of their round from Saturday. However, Upstate's 340 was not enough to move up the leaderboard as the Spartans finished 18th in the tournament.
Upstate's 340 was better than the rounds turned in by Montana (341) and Western New Mexico (343) in the second and final round of the tournament. The Spartans finished 18th with a 36-hole 690 total.
Northern Arizona won the tournament after rounds of 312 and 301 to finish with a 613 total. Cal Poly, the leader entering Sunday's final round, finished second at 617 and was followed by Portland (638), Eastern Michigan (641), Xavier (641), UC Riverside (642), Western Michigan (643), Grand Canyon (650), Louisiana Monroe (650) and Northern Colorado (660) in the top 10.
Montana (661) was 11th and was followed by Western New Mexico (665), Cal State Bakersfield (668), Montana State (669), Utah Valley (671), North Dakota State (672), Southern Utah (673) and Upstate (690).
Judge was solid on the day. She lowered her score by seven strokes from Saturday's 86 to card a 79 Sunday afternoon and finished tied for 44th in the tournament with a 165 total.
"It was great to have Jennifer back in the lineup," said Upstate assistant coach Sandy Halkett. "She improved her score because of her putting. She also had more up-and-downs for par."
Judge was not the only Spartan to lower her score from Saturday to Sunday. Marissa Clontz lowered her score by five strokes to post an 85, while Natalie Buch shaved seven shots off to card an 88 on Sunday.
The efforts of Judge, Clontz and Buch helped Upstate lower its score by 10 strokes over Saturday's 350 team total.
"We played better today despite a cold and rainy start to the round," said Halkett. "Everyone has areas they are ready to work on in their game to keep improving. Everyone on the team knows they can perform better, it's just a matter of doing it on the road in tournament play."
Portland's Paige Rachor fired an even-par 72 Sunday to win the individual title. Her 149 total was one stroke better than the duo from Caly Poly, Maddy Fletcher and Kristin Locke, at 150.
