UVU Women’s golf making strides on the links
The Wolverines were encouraged coming off their first-ever tournament win in Division I at the Wildcat Invitational, heading into the Hobble Creek Invitational.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to be able to host and play the tournament at Hobble Creek. It’s a great golf course,” head coach Sue Nyhus said. “Our girls have made some significant improvements over the summer, and they’re really looking forward to playing in front of the hometown crowd.”
Unfortunately the team struggled on day one of its only home tournament of the season.
“We didn’t play well at all today,” Nyhus said after the Wolverines complete the first 36 holes. “But we’re looking forward to tomorrow and expecting better results.”
UVU finished the first two rounds with a total team score of 644 (+76), good for 11th best among a field that included in-state opponents BYU, Southern Utah, Weber State and Dixie State. The Wolverines trailed each of their fellow Utah schools at the close of the second round.
Junior Lynn-Marie Nagel had the best round of Wolverine golfers, finishing with rounds of 74 and 75 on the day, which landed her in fifth place overall. However Nagel was competing individually, so her score did not factor into the team’s tally.
Day two came with renewed optimism for UVU, as it was able to better its team score posted the previous two rounds by seven strokes. The round vaulted the Wolverines into 10th, one spot better than Dixie State.
“We had better play from the entirety of the team and had some individuals perform well today,” Nyhus said. “We’re going to use this as a springboard to improve as the season goes on and as we prepare to compete in Boise next week.”
Redshirt freshman Kim Nyhus was excellent individually, posting the best score of her career as a Wolverine – a 2-over-par 73. The stellar round pushed Nyhus up from 44th overall individually into 29th place. Nagel finished 19th on the individual leaderboard.
Heather Mathison and Brooke Whittaker helped lead the team’s charge, concluding the third round with scores of 75 and 78 respectively. Mathison finished in 37th place and Whittaker followed her on the leaderboard in 38th.
“It was really important for us to have this tournament in our own backyard. For the girls to be in a familiar environment where fans can come and watch them play, and where high school golfers can see what the next level looks like are both great things for women’s golf locally,” Nyhus said.
Up next for the Wolverines is the Bronco Fall Classic, where conference foe Boise State will play host. The three-round event will be held Sept. 16-17 in Kuna, Idaho.
Kyle is a junior at UVU, studying journalism. He works at KSL as a writer/content manager and previously wrote for weareutahjazz.com. He is originally from Colorado Springs, Colo., where most of his family resides. In his free time Kyle enjoys hiking, playing the sports he writes about, reading and obsessively following his professional teams, to which he is unwaveringly loyal. You can follow him @kyledspencer.