Subscribe to RSSKim finishes six shots off leader as Lumberjack’s golf finish seventh overall
By Tyler Childers
Northern Arizona University’s (NAU) golf team has seen some tough competition early in the season, and the Wyoming Cowgirl Desert Intercollegiate was no different.
The 19-team field teed off at The Classic Club in Palm Desert, Calif. on Oct. 13-14. The Jacks finished seventh overall behind Stephanie Kim’s excellent play.
Kim shot 76–73–73 (222) to finish tied for fifth place in the individual scores. Kim was six over par and six shots off the leader when the final cards were turned in.
Kim rebounded from her previous outing, where she and her coach, Brad Bedortha, expected a higher finish than Kim’s tie for 39th at the Rose City Collegiate tournament in Portland.
“She’s a great player. She’s a competitor. She works hard, she wants to play well,” Bedortha said. “I kind of expected her to bounce back, and she did in a great fashion.”
The senior from Tempe, a two-time Big Sky Conference (BSC) player of the year, now well into her final season at NAU, will miss her team when the season is over. Kim hopes to make the most out of the remaining tournaments before she graduates with a double major in advertising and photography.
“I’m really enjoying my last year here; I just want to have as much fun as possible,” Kim said.
Kathy Boehm, from the College of Charleston in S.C., won the tournament after finishing even, shooting 73–68–75 (216). She tied a tournament record for lowest three-round score, and led the College of Charleston Cougars to a second place finish.
The team leader board had Fresno State on top, with a new tournament record. The Bulldogs shot 885 (21 over) as a team, the lowest a team has ever finished at the tournament.
Freshman Savana Bezdicek finished second for NAU with 73–76–82 (231), but struggled through her final round of the tournament. Bezdicek played a good round on Sunday, but made a few costly mistakes, including a quadruple bogey on the second hole. Her score of 231 was good enough for Bezdicek to finish tied for 31st.
“I felt really good the first day; I played solid,” Bezdicek said. “I feel like I played all right [the second day]; it was just two holes that really messed up my round. Without those holes, just getting a bogey on those holes, I would have improved by four shots right there and shot in the 70s.”
Left-handed junior Kaitlen Parsons was just one stroke behind teammate Bezdicek. She shot 80–77–75 (232) to finish tied for 33rd and has been improving as the season continues.
“She has high expectations for herself and has been working hard,” Bedortha said. “She’s starting to get better contact with the ball, her putting hasn’t been great, but it’s getting better and her attitude has been awesome.”
Sophomore Laura Jabczenski finished tied for 73rd after hitting scores 86–77–81 (244) through the three days, and sophomore Susana Mejia finished tied at 102nd with 85–85–88 (258).
The Lumberjacks beat all Big Sky Conference schools present and finished six strokes behind tournament host Wyoming. The Lumberjacks will come back to Flagstaff to prepare for their next tournament, the Cal Poly Lady Mustang Invitational in Arroyo Grande, Calif. on Oct.29-30.
