San Diego State was looking to depend on their more experienced golfers, Stephanie Barbaglia and sophomore Emma Narita, to put up low scores for Aztecs at the Stanford Intercollegiate Women’s Golf Tournament at Stanford Golf Course.
With the absence of star senior Anika Sato, SDSU was forced to start three freshmen: Kylie Phi, Emma Delwes and Emilia Omander. This would mark the first time that head coach Lauren Dobashi has started three freshmen in any tournament.
Filling in for Sato, Omander shot a 14-over 85 in Friday’s round one action. After her shaky start to the tournament, the freshman steadily improved with a 12-over 83 and an impressive 6-over 77 on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
As the tournament went on, Omander settled in and was able to decrease her bogey output and increase her birdie output, placing 97th in the tournament.
Delwes started round one on a high note with a 6-over 77, consisting of two birdies. She was unable to continue her first-round success and did not contribute a score for the last two rounds. Delwes finished in 98th place.
Phi was arguably the best Aztec freshman at the Stanford Intercollegiate. Her scores counted for SDSU in all three rounds (76-76-78) and she had the second fewest bogeys (11) on the team.
Phi played very consistent, logging 36 pars throughout the weekend, which was tied for 17th in that respective category. Overall, Kylie Phi shot 19-over for the tournament, landing her in 87th place.
Narita also had all three scores counted for the tournament (76-81-74). She played the par-5 holes under par for the weekend, adding up to 3-under cumulatively and 4.75 shots on average.
After San Diego State shot their highest team score of 26-over for Saturday’s round two, the Aztecs needed their battle-tested golfers like Narita to bounce back. Narita answered the call in round three, carding three birdies, aiding in her lowest tournament score of 3-over par. Narita finished in a tie for 82nd place.
Since Sato did not play in the Stanford Intercollegiate, Barbaglia had to step up and take the leading role for SDSU. Barbaglia relished the spotlight, shooting 218 (75-68-75), the best score for the Aztecs across all three rounds.
Barbaglia was top 20 in par-3 scoring and top 10 in par-5 scoring (including an eagle) and placed tied for 36th out of 99 individual golfers. Her round two score of 3-under 68 was tied for second best on the day, logging five birdies and only two bogeys.
After the conclusion of play, San Diego State finished in 19th place at 66-over par. Both USC and the host, Stanford, tied for 1st at 18-under. USC’s Jasmine Koo took home individual honors with a 1st place 11-under, edging out her teammate Catherine Park by one stroke.
Next up for SDSU women’s golf is a match against Long Beach State at a date to be declared in the near future.
