Northern golf finishes fourth at Carroll meet

The Montana State-Northern women's golf team used a strong final round to earn fourth place honors at the Carroll College Invitational at Green Meadows Country Club in Helena on Monday and Tuesday.

The Skylights had a tough second round of the tournament and found themselves tied for fourth with conference rival UM-Western. However, Northern fought through Tuesday's chilly and rainy weather to grab sole possession of fourth place.

"We came back really strong for our final," said head coach Chris Handley. "We probably had one of our better final rounds in years."

Rocky Mountain finished first in the tournament with a score of 976 followed by Lewis and Clark State with a 1013 and the University of Victoria in British Columbia with 1090.

The Skylights got a pair of top 10 finishes from Kaycee Link and Toni Bickford who finished ninth and tenth, respectively.

"It's been a long time since we've had two women in the top 10," Handley said.

While Bickford has been a consistent top ten peformer for the Skylights, Link's play was a breakthrough for Northern. Link had a few top ten finishes during her freshman year but hadn't been back in two years.

"Kaycee had one of the best tournaments she's had since she's been here," Handley said. "She really came through. Without her we wouldn't have done so well as the team. It definitely boosted her confidence in her play."

Like the team, Bickford had a less than spectacular second round in the tournament, but she and Link put together great rounds in Tuesday's wind and rain.

"They really battled the elements and played their best rounds of the tournaments," Handley said.

Other finishers for Northern were Teresa Newman with a 292 and Ristina Wilting with a 310.

MSU-Northern will travel to Billings on Sept. 23-24 for the Rocky Mountain College Invitational at the Peter Yegen Golf Course. Handley said his team really likes the course and traditionally plays well there.

"We must have broke five school records the last time we played there," Handley said. "The girls are really confident about playing there."