The San Diego State women’s golf team finished fourth place and a combined 8-over-par 864 at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational that concluded Tuesday in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
BYU finished in first place, shooting 6-under-par 858, followed by San Jose State’s 1-under-par 863 and New Mexico’s 2-over-par 866. Pepperdine sophomore Kaleiya Romero won the individual title, beating BYU sophomore Lila Galeai on the first playoff hole. Galeai had a hole-in-one on the first day of competition.
Senior Sara Kjelker was the highest-ranked Aztec for the seventh time in the last eight events. Out of a field of 93 golfers, Kjelker finished tied for sixth with an overall score of 2-under-par 214. She tied her career-best in the second round with a 6-under-par 66.
Just missing out on a top-10 finish, Junior Bernice Olivarez Ilas finished 11th and shot a career-best 1-under-par 215. Ilas was tied for fourth with Kjelker at the end of the first day after shooting back-to-back 70s. Her final-round score of 3-over-par 75 saw her slip out of the top-10.
After two rounds the Aztecs were in second place at 3-under-par, but a final-round total of 11-over-par 299 saw them fall two spots in the final standings. Freshman Esti Garcia Rubio shot the lowest in the last round of the competition with a 1-over-par 73. Rubio finished tied for 66th place along with fellow freshman Anika Sato at 13-over-par 229.
Sophomore Anna Lina Otten shot a career-best 5-over-par 221 to finish in a tie for 33rd place. Otten started the tournament strong with a 2-under-par 70 round and finished the tournament with a round of 5-over-par 77.
The Aztecs return to competition in two weeks when they travel to Red Sky Golf Club in Colorado to compete in the Golfweek Conference Challenge Sept. 27 to Sept. 29.
