ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An incredibly strong opening round at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational set a powerful tone for the young season, as the Mustangs secured an 11th-place finish (904) in the 15-team field in Albuquerque.
The charge was led by Nicole Koong, Cal Poly’s second-leading scorer from a year ago, who delivered a spectacular 70-stroke (-2) first round. That performance, which tied her for second place individually, propelled the Mustangs into a stunning fourth place (+7) on the team leaderboard.
A challenging afternoon round had the team slide to 12th, but a resilient final-day surge saw four of the five Mustangs shave at least four strokes off their score. This clutch effort salvaged a five-stroke advantage over Fresno State and rescued one spot in the final standings.
“There are some great takeaways from our first tournament of the year,” Head Coach Courtney Roberts expressed. “First off – it was great to see our three freshmen finally competing as Mustangs! We came out strong as a team in the first round on Monday, posting one of the lowest team scores of the day. In contrast, we lost steam in the afternoon round and gave away some easy strokes.”
Koong became the first Mustang of the season to notch a top-20 finish, tying for 15th with a total of 220 strokes, matching the second-best tournament score of her career.
The trio of true freshmen made an immediate impact in their collegiate debuts. Taylor Baker (225) impressed by finishing as the team’s second-best performer and tying for 37th overall. She was followed by Alex Flier and Maya Saysanasongkham, who tied for fourth on the team with a score of 230.
Competing as an individual, Sara Torres posted the third-best score among all Mustangs (229), capped by a fantastic final-round 73. Sarah Yoo (237) rounded out the team scoring.
“I am proud of how the team responded, putting what they learned into action quickly to bounce back with a solid team score in the final round. We identified some things to clean up these next couple of days at home and then will be ready to get back out to compete at Chambers Bay,” Roberts summarized.
The Mustangs now look ahead to Chambers Bay Golf Course for the Leadership & Golf Invitational hosted by Washington. They will surely draw inspiration from last season’s performance there, where the team fired a legendary second-round 282, one of the best single-round scores in program history.
