FARMINGTON, Utah (March 23, 2022) – For the second time in her career, senior
Elle Kocourkova was named the Big Sky Women's Golfer of the Week on Wednesday following her individual tournament win over the weekend at the Red Rocks Invitational in Sedona. She is the second Northern Arizona golfer to receive the award this season.
Kocourkova became the third Lumberjack to win NAU's annual home tournament at Oakcreek Country Club and the first since Sofia Anokhina in 2018. Anokhina also earned medalist honors the year prior and Jacquie LeMarr was the first Lumberjack to win in 2014.
The golfer from Hrebec, Czech Republic shot 5-under par 211 (68-73-70), one stroke better than Grand Canyon's Siripatsorn Patchana. Kocourkova was locked in a three-way tie with Patchana and Weber State's Taitum Beck heading into her final hole, the par-5 18, before Kocourkova recorded her 11th and final birdie of the tournament to clinch the victory.
Kocourkova's final birdie wrapped up a 2-under par performance on the back nine in Sunday's third round. She opened her final Red Rocks Invitational with a career-best tying 4-under par 68, putting her at the top of the individual leaderboard following the first round. The 4-under par 68 matched a career-low round set earlier this season during the first round of the Golfweek Red Sky Classic.
By the end of the tournament, Kocourkova shot her way into the NAU record book as her 5-under par 211 was not only a career-best 54-hole score, but the second-best score in relation to par in program history and fourth-best score in relation to par in the history of the Red Rocks Invitational.
A big part of Kocourkova's first career tournament win was her play on the par-3 holes. Over the course of the tournament, Kocourkova played the par-3's to a 4-under par score with the next closest golfer in the field at 1-under.
Now sporting a career-low scoring average of 74.75, Kocourkova earned her first career top five individual finish while guiding the Lumberjacks to a second-place team finish – the program's best since at the Red Rocks Invitational since 2015.
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