Behind a par-288 in the final round, the Oregon women’s golf team captured its first tournament title of the season in the Juli Inkster Spartan Invitational. Placing first out of 13 teams, the 20th-ranked Ducks carded a tournament score of 876 (+12), two strokes ahead of second place UC Davis.
The tournament victory is the fifth time the Ducks have won a trophy under head coach Ria Scott. The win would not come without a bit of competition however, as UC Davis and Oregon both held leads at one point or another Tuesday.
Cathleen Santoso’s final day was the ultimate difference for the Ducks’ end result. Her four-under (68) closing round led the women’s final surge and it was good enough to earn herself her first career medalist honors. She would post a three-round score of 213 (-3) to share medalist honors with Cal State Fullerton’s Martina Edberg and New Mexico’s Sammi Stevens.
A native of Sydney, Australia, Santoso jumped from sixth to first place thanks to four birdies and 14 pars on the final day. Her first place finish comes just a week after she finished second individually at the Westbrook Spring Invitational.
Santoso, along with Cassy Isagawa, Caroline Inglis and Marcella Pranovia would finish in the top-25 individually at the tournament’s end.
Cassy Isagawa’s 54-hole score of 216 (E) put her at a tie for fifth on the leaderboard. Her final round as well improved the team score tremendously. On Tuesday, she carded a 69 (-3), which was four strokes better than her previous best round during the invitational.
With both Davis and Oregon neck-and-neck, Isawaga birdied the 17th and 18th holes, which played a large factor in how the rest of the tournament played out.
“I said this when we received our trophy, it’s fun to see this team shoot low numbers but it’s even more gratifying to see them love and support each other,” Scott told GoDucks.com. “As coaches, we completely know and trust that this group is grinding and doing their best out there.”
Follow Justin Wise on Twitter @JWISE25
Oregon women’s golf: Ducks earn first title of the season at Juli Inkster Spartan Invitational
Justin Wise
March 3, 2014
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