Final Results

Rohnert Park, CA -- After a roundabout finish where they played the 18 holes of the third round before the last nine of the second round, the Academy of Art University women's golf team improved at every checkpoint and finished the Sonoma State Spring Invitational where they started the day, in third place. In individual play, the Knights had their golfers well-represented near the top of the 63-player field, as Crystal Superal finished tied for sixth and Deanna Tyndall tied for ninth.

Superal started the day in 29th place, but lopped off 10 strokes to finish the divided second round with a 73 (+1). Her third round score was another solid round (76), and she would jump up the 23 spots with her improvement. Tyndall improved in every round as well, going from 81 in the first round to 80 in the second and 76 in the third. Melissa Genao also shot 76 in the final round to finish tied for 13th place, while Andrea Neito (27th), Mariana Pazos (t-32nd) and Sierra Sanchez (t-45th) rounded out the scoring for the Knights.

Sally Watson (+4) and Marissa Mar (+12), both from Division I Stanford University, had the two highest individual scores, while the top performers who were also in team play were Megan Birdsey (+14) and Linzi Allan (+15), both of Newman University. Grand Canyon's Charlotte Jaengkit shot 16 over par to finish behind that pair, while Superal tied with Newman's Courtney Zeitsman at +18.

In the team scoring, ART U started the day in third after a first round score of 325. They improved by eight strokes in the second round with a 317, and then finished with an even better round of 316 in the third. That put them only two strokes out of second place behind Cal State San Marcos, who they almost caught up to at the end of the tournament. Newman University finished in first place, followed by CSUSM and the Urban Knights. Sonoma State's Blue Team and Cal State Monterey Bay rounded out the top five.

This was the Knights final tuneup before they host the PacWest Championships next Monday and Tuesday at the Mira Vista Country Club in El Cerrito, CA. More details regarding that tournament to follow.