Bjorgvinsdottir, Ho post top 10 finishes to propel Bulldogs at home tournament

Monday, March 13

Fresno, Calif. (San Joaquin Country Club)

Monday, March 13 - Tuesday, March 14

Fresno State

Fresno State Classic

Bjorgvinsdottir, Ho post top 10 finishes to propel Bulldogs at home tournament

3/14/2017 7:19:00 PM | Women's Golf

2017 Fresno State Classic Results (FINAL)

Fresno State earns tie for second place behind individual finishes of third place by Mimi Ho and ninth place by Gudrun Bjorgvinsdottir

By: Matt Burkholder / Director of Communications

FRESNO, Calif. – The Fresno State women's golf team claimed a tie for second place at its home-hosted Fresno State Classic on Tuesday at San Joaquin Country Club. The squad was led by a third-place finish by Mimi Ho, who fired a final round 3-under-par 69 to help move the 'Dogs up the leaderboard and earn the teams' lowest single round team score of the spring with a 292.

"Yesterday we had a bit of a challenging start, but we certainly played well today," said head coach Emily Loftin. "As people know in this game, it is a game of inches and it came down to a few strokes here and there to determine the winner … we were only a few shots behind but it's nice to be in the hunt coming down the stretch."

Fresno State was five shots back from the lead entering the final round and made up three strokes, but could not overtake the lead after its first round 302, followed by a 299 second round and a final round 292 with the home crowd behind them.

"It's fun to have the fans out there pulling for you and cheering for you," Loftin said. "With our sport it's common not to have many spectators on the road, so it was nice to be in Red Wave country and feel that love as we play."

With Ho leading the charge, she went bogey-free on Tuesday, adding three birdies for her 3-under-par 69. The junior carded an even-par 216 over the event's three rounds to tie a 54-hole career-low; her single round 69 was two strokes off her career-best.

"I had some high expectations for this tournament since it's our home tournament," said Ho. "Yesterday I put too much pressure on myself and it didn't turn out so great, but today I shot a 69 and hopefully this will give my season a good push."

Gudrun Bjorgvinsdottir joined Ho with a top 10 performance, finishing in a tie for ninth place at 7-over-par (73-75-75=223). The senior capped her Fresno State Classic career finishing in the top 20 of all four she played, including top 10's over the last three years.

"We wanted to win, we go to every tournament wanting to win," said Bjorgvinsdottir. "We will learn from this ... what we did well and what we did not ... and take it to the next one."

The Bulldogs continue their schedule in San Diego next week for the SDSU March Mayhem tournament, March 20-22.

"The spring is a very fast time frame for us," Loftin added. "We play quite a few events in a row, and we are on the first of three in a row right now, so it was great to have the final round that we did. It builds the momentum, and confidence too."

Notes:
• Kaitlyn Ellis holed an eagle on No. 14 in Tuesday's final round; she finished with back-to-back career lows of 1-over-par 73 and earned a top 20 finish with a 9-over-par 225 tournament score.
• Kristin Simonsen birdied her final hole of the tournament to cap a final round 2-over-par 74 – her lowest round of the event.
• Newcomer Kelsi Stieler carded a final round even-par 72, a Bulldog-best for the sophomore.
• Yifei Wang posted her lowest score of the Fresno State Classic on Tuesday with a 2-over-par 74.
• Five Bulldogs earned top 25 finishes at the Fresno State Classic.
• The Bulldogs' streak of three consecutive Fresno State Classic team titles was snapped with Nevada earning the 2017 crown.
• UC Riverside was the recipient of the runner-up trophy by virtue of the lowest fifth player score tiebreaker; UC Riverside, Fresno State and Cal Poly each finished tied for second place – UC Riverside's fifth-player score of 77, bested Cal Poly's 78 and the Bulldogs' 80.
• Martina Edberg, the No. 15-ranked individual in the nation according GolfStat, won the Fresno State Classic individual title with a 4-under-par 212 (71-69-72).

Fresno State Classic
Dates: March 13-14, 2017
Final Results
Par: 72; Yardage: 6,119

Team Leaderboard
1. Nevada: 305-296-290=891 (+27)
T2. UC Riverside: 300-300-293=893 (+29)**
T2. Cal Poly: 299-299-295=893 (+29)
T2. Fresno State: 302-299-292=893 (+29)
5. UC Irvine: 299-297-302=898 (+34)
6. CSU Fullerton: 312-293=302=907 (+43)
7. Santa Clara: 310-303-298=911 (+47)
8. Little Rock: 307-296-310=913 (+49)
9. Sacramento State: 304-309-302=915 (+51)
10. Cincinnati: 303-303-313=919 (+55)
11. Boston University: 308-305-308=921 (+57)
12. CSU Bakersfield: 316-329-313=958 (+94)
**runner-up ceremony honoree by virtue of lowest fifth player score tiebreaker

Fresno State Leaderboard
3. Mimi Ho: 73-74-69=216 (E)
T9. Gudrun Bjorgvinsdottir: 73-75-75=223 (+7)
T17. Kaitlyn Ellis (individual): 79-73-73-225 (+9)
T22. Kristin Simonsen: 76-78-74=228 (+12)
T22. Kelsi Stieler (individual): 79-77-72=228 (+12)
T27. Yifei Wang: 80-75-74=229 (+13)
T40. Hayden Mammen (individual): 74-75-84=233 (+17)
T50. Joanna Kim: 81-75-80=236 (+20)
T50. Samantha Spencer (individual): 82-76-78=236 (+20)
70. Danielle Richman (individual): 84-83-86=253 (+37)

"Just the Ticket to Build Our Community" - Follow the team on social media on Twitter at @FresnoStateWG.