FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 18, 2021) – For the first time in three years, the Northern Arizona golf team will host the Red Rocks Invitational at Oakcreek Country Club beginning Saturday at 8:30 a.m. The first two rounds of the tournament will be played on Saturday followed by the third round on Sunday, also at an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start.
This year's Red Rocks Invitational will be the 15th annual, although the tournament will be making its return after last season's competition was wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, NAU's lone home tournament of the year will be back at Oakcreek Country Club for the first time since 2018. The 2019 tournament was held at Agave Highlands Golf Course in Cornville, Ariz. as a result of flooding at Oakcreek.
Oakcreek Country Club (par-72, 6,155 yards) has been the host site of the Red Rocks Invitational annually since the tournament's inception in 2006 aside from 2019. Spectators will not be allowed on the course throughout the weekend.
"Agave Highlands treated us great and did a wonderful job for us, but we're excited to get back to Oakcreek," said head coach
Brad Bedortha. "The golf course is in great shape and we have a really good group of teams competing. It won't be a walk in the park for us. Whoever wins the tournament, both team and individually, will have to play well."
Historically, the Lumberjacks have fared well in their home tournament winning the team title four times and placing in the top four in 11 of 14 years. NAU has never finished lower than seventh on its home course in Sedona.
The last time NAU competed at Oakcreek in 2018, the Lumberjacks finished fourth as a team. The 'Jacks were led by
Sofia Anokhina, who claimed medalist honors for the second consecutive year.
As a result of the circumstances that followed the last two years, NAU's junior class of
Aleksandra Chekalina,
Ashley Croft and
Elle Kocourkova, along with the rest of the team, will be competing for the first time at Oakcreek this weekend.
The three golfers were NAU's top three finishers at the 2019 tournament at Agave Highlands as freshmen, while guiding the Lumberjacks to a tie for third on the team leaderboard at 11-over par 863 (278-297-288). Chekalina navigated the par-71 course to a seventh-place finish at 1-under par 212 (69-70-73). Croft (70-76-70) and Kocourkova (72-71-74) were tied for 17th and 21st respectively at 3-over par 216 and 4-over par 217.
NAU will welcome 19 teams, including seven Big Sky squads, to this year's tournament in Sedona. The Big Sky's top three teams in the preseason poll will all be in action this weekend with preseason favorite Sacramento State joining Idaho and NAU in the field.
With three tournaments down and three to go before the Big Sky Championship next month, the Lumberjacks continue to trend upwards as they start the second half of the season. NAU is coming off a 13
th-place finish at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational on March 8 and 9 in a loaded field with some of the best teams in the country.
"We're definitely getting better and we've had some good individual performances," Bedortha said. "If we can have all five players in our starting lineup click at the same time on the same day, we can do some really good things. It's going to be exciting to see how we progress from our last tournament to this tournament."
After opening with its lowest round of the season, the Lumberjacks finished at 41-over par 905 (295-305-305) with Kocourkova pacing the team in a tie for 13th individually. Kocourkova's even-par 216 (72-74-70) landed her first career Big Sky Golfer of the Week award, while Croft was second on the team at 11-over par 227 (72-74-79) which was good for a tie for 44th.
Kocourkova's performance moves her into the No. 1 spot in the lineup this weekend with Chekalina, freshman
Ekaterina Malakhova, graduate student
Klara Kucharova and Croft rounding out the top five. Sophomore
Lorel Hayward will also compete as an individual.
Hayward will be making her first tournament appearance since the season opener in Las Vegas, where she tied for 72nd at the Rebel Beach Invitational last month.
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