Caroline Cantlay drives from the first tee at the San Luis Obispo Country Club on Monday. Cantlay is tied for second place with teammate Kaylyn Noh in Big West Championship.
Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics
Cal Poly Enters Last Round of Big West Finals Five Shots Back
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Defending Big West Conference women's golf champion Cal Poly enters Tuesday's final round of the 2022 Big West Conference Championship five strokes behind second-seeded Hawai'i.
Trailing the Rainbow Wahine by one stroke after the first 18 holes of play Sunday, the Mustangs dropped four shots further behind in the second round Monday at the San Luis Obispo Country Club.
Hawaii leads with a four-person 36-hole 19-over-par 595 aggregate while Cal Poly has compiled a 600 total on the 6,113-yard par-72 course that was hit by moderate winds and a light drizzle in Monday's round.
Third-place Long Beach State (603) and fourth-place UC Riverside (606) also are within shouting distance of the team championship.
Kaylyn Noh lines up a putt during second round of 2022 Big West
Conference Women's Golf Championship on Tuesday.Cal Poly was within one to three strokes of Hawaii through the first seven holes before the Rainbow Wahine carded six birdies from the eighth through 11th holes to pull away to a lead as large as nine strokes.
The Mustangs battled back to within five shots down the stretch when Noh birdied the 16th and 17th holes, Scholtes birdied the 18th and Dimayuga birdied the 16th. Cal Poly had no bogeys over the final three holes Monday.
"Anything can happen on this course as seen today when we turned three strokes in just the last three holes with a strong finish, including four birdies," said seventh-year Mustang head coach Sofie Aagaard.
Kate Villegas of UC Riverside is the lone golfer under par after 36 holes of play after posting rounds of 74 Sunday and 69 Monday. Villegas birdied the final hole Monday for a two-shot advantage over Cal Poly's Caroline Cantlay and Kaylyn Noh.
Despite the wind and drizzle, Cantlay followed Sunday's 75 with a 70 Monday that included three birdies, one bogey and 14 pars while Noh has posted rounds of 73 and 72, the latter with four birdies and an equal number of bogeys.
"Kaylyn and Caroline had great performances today," Aagaard said, "steady play through and rolling some good birdies for us at the end. They took advantage of some of the holes where the hole location was approachable and played conservative to the tougher pins.
"The windy afternoon conditions make the course more challenging on the back nine as we have some longer finishing holes," Aagaard added. "A strong start on the front would be something to wish for as the coach, to build momentum and confidence going into the last few holes.
Two other Mustang golfers enter Tuesday's final round, which begins at 7:30 a.m., in the top 20.
Jensen Jalufka owns a 155 total and is tied for 17th place with two other golfers while Elizabeth Scholtes has compiled a 156 total and is tied for 20th place with Megan Yang of UC Irvine.
Mustang freshman Kamille Dimayuga is tied for 30th place with a 161 aggregate.
The winds and drizzle sent scores soaring for most golfers, with the exception of Villegas, Cantlay and a handful of other golfers, such as fourth-place Momo Sugiyama of Hawaii (from a 77 to a 70, jumping 13 positions on the scoreboard) and Julia Johansson of CSUN (83 to 75, moving 16 spots up the leaderboard).
Cantlay and Jalufka share the lead in par-3 scoring at even par while Noh enjoys a two-shot advantage in par-4 scoring at two under par. Cantlay is tied for sixth in par-5 scoring at even par.
Noh's eight birdies over 36 holes are second in the field of 45 golfers while Cantlay's 27 pars are No. 2 as well.
Cal Poly, Hawaii and Long Beach State will be in the final five groups Tuesday, teeing off from 9:10 to 9:50 a.m. The public is invited to attend free of charge.
"Hawaii is a strong team with great ball strikers who handle the course and the wind well," Aagaard said. "Our Cal Poly team may be more familiar with the greens and can handle the undulations with good reads of the putts. One more round, and we all know it isn't over until it is over."
