SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (April 19, 2022) – The Northern Arizona golf team made major moves on Tuesday, taking sizeable leads on the team and individual leaderboards going into the final 18 holes at Talking Stick Golf Club. Firing a new school championship record round of 1-under par 287, the Lumberjacks gained 17 strokes on Sacramento State on the day and heads into the third round with a 15-stroke lead at 1-under par 575 (288-287).
"Similar to yesterday, we just played solid all day," said head coach
Brad Bedortha. "We got off to a good start. I saw a lot of good shots, a lot of good putts and everyone was competing at a high level. Kate (Malakhova) played spectacular again,
Ashley Croft came through with a great round today.
Lorel Hayward stepped up and shot even-par. Elle (Kocourkova) and Aleks (Chekalina) played consistent and overall it was a really fun day."
With sophomore
Ekaterina Malakhova shooting 3-under par 69, senior
Ashley Croft at 1-under par 71 and junior
Lorel Hayward at even-par 72 leading the way, the Lumberjacks posted their first all-time under-par round at the conference championship in program history.
Coupled with their even-par 288 on Monday, NAU set a new Big Sky Conference Championship 36-hole score record at 575, besting the previous mark by five strokes held by Eastern Washington in 2004.
NAU went into the day two strokes behind Sacramento State, the two-time defending league champion, but the Lumberjacks completely flipped the scoreboard behind a sensational back nine in particular. NAU's five golfers played the back nine to even-par, while Sacramento State's five golfers shot 13-over par.
The 'Jacks finished strong on the par-4 18, combining for four pars and one bogey. Comparatively, the Hornets played the final hole to 6-over par alone.
Sacramento State, Weber State and Idaho are locked in a three-way tie at 14-over par 590 at the end of Tuesday.
At the head of NAU once again was Malakhova, who opened up a significant advantage in the chase for the individual medalist honor following a 3-under par 69 round. Malakhova, now at 7-under par 137 (68-69), leads both Idaho's Yvonne Vinceri and Sacramento State's Jennifer Koga by seven strokes. She also broke the conference championship record, held previously by former Lumberjack Stephanie Kim, through 36 holes by two strokes. Kim shot 5-under par 139 (69-70) at the 2010 Championship.
Malakhova recorded five birdies – four of which came over the final 10 holes – to up her tournament-leading total to 10. Her first of consecutive birdies on 9 and 10 evened up her round score and the latter pushed her under-par throughout the remainder of the round.
She was backed by Croft and Hayward, who stepped up in a big way on Tuesday from the bottom two spots in the lineup. Croft shot 1-under par 71 with 15 pars and two birdies. After her lone bogey of the day on hole 8, Croft responded with a birdie on 9 and played the back nine to 1-under par to post her lowest round since October.
Croft's 71 pushed her up 17 spots to a tie for 25th at 7-over par 151 (80-71), while Hayward also moved up the leaderboard to a tie for fourth following her career-low championship round. Hayward recorded birdies on holes 5 and 7 before 10 consecutive pars. Despite a bogey on her final hole, Hayward went into the clubhouse at even-par 72.
Hayward's 36-hole score of 1-over par 145 (73-72) is a new career-low by five strokes.
Seniors
Aleksandra Chekalina and
Elle Kocourkova both shot 3-over par 75 on Tuesday and are tied for 10th and 18th respectively. Chekalina rebounded from an early double bogey on hole 2 to play the remainder of the round to 1-over par and is at 4-over par 148 (73-75). Although Kocourkova, at 5-over par 149 (74-75), did not tally a birdie in the second round, she did notch 15 pars.
Kocourkova and Hayward both have totaled a team-best 27 pars through the first two rounds, one off the tournament lead. As a team, NAU has a tournament-high 125 pars and is second with 23 birdies.
Paired with Sacramento State and Weber State, NAU will tee off the final round of the championship on Wednesday in the final group. Croft will tee off first at 9:30 a.m. with Kocourkova behind her at 9:40 a.m. Chekalina (9:50 a.m.), Hayward (10 a.m.) and Malakhova (10:10 a.m.) will follow.
The Lumberjacks will look to capture their ninth all-time Big Sky Championship and first since 2015. Should Malakhova hold on, she would become the seventh different NAU golfer to win the Big Sky Championship and the eighth overall. Sofia Anokhina is the most recent Big Sky Champion in 2017.
"We've talked about there's no such thing as a moving day," Bedortha said. "From the first hole to the 54th hole, you have to be ready to play your best golf. As I told them at the end of the round today, this is great but they don't give out trophies after 36 holes of golf. We have to perform tomorrow and win this thing. I just us to go out and compete the best we can and we'll add up the scores."
Fans can follow the live scoring for the final round on
Golfstat.
To stay up to date with the NAU golf team, follow the Lumberjacks on
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Full Team Leaderboard
1. Northern Arizona – 288-287 = 575 (-1)
T2. Sacramento State – 286-304 = 590 (+14)
T2. Weber State – 293-297 = 590 (+14)
T2. Idaho – 299-291 = 590 (+14)
5. Eastern Washington – 301-300 = 601 (+25)
6. Idaho State – 308-297 = 605 (+29)
7. Montana State – 304-302 = 606 (+30)
8. Southern Utah – 309-300 = 609 (+33)
9. Portland State – 312-300 = 612 (+36)
10. Northern Colorado – 312-301 = 613 (+37)
11. Montana – 309-305 = 614 (+38)
NAU Individual Scores
1.
Ekaterina Malakhova – 68-69 = 137 (-7)
T4.
Lorel Hayward – 73-72 = 145 (+1)
T10.
Aleksandra Chekalina – 73-75 = 148 (+4)
T18.
Elle Kocourkova – 74-75 = 149 (+5)
T28.
Ashley Croft – 80-71 = 151 (+7)
Gallery: (4-19-2022) Big Sky Championship Day 2
