After playing four tournaments in as many weeks to open the spring portion of the 2021–22 schedule, the Chico State women's golf team took a well-deserved breather from competition last week. Now refreshed and recharged, the Wildcats return to the links Monday and Tuesday to participate in the Dallas Baptist University-hosted Patriot Invitational, taking place at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach.
Fans can keep up with the tournament results online—the link for Patriot Invitational score updates is accessible at
www.chicowildcats.com in the calendar section of the website's homepage, and on the women's golf schedule page.
The tournament is one of the highlights of Chico State's spring schedule. In addition to playing on the famous Pebble Beach golf course, the Wildcats will go up against arguably the most talented field of teams they've faced all season.
The 'Cats have been playing well this spring, and most recently turned in a solid 14th place finish in their last tournament, the March 7–8 Fujikura Invitational.
'Cats head coach Heather Fegley will send her usual starting five this week to Poppy Hills. Two Chico State golfers, Taylor Stewart and Kelsey Blaylock, have been particularly productive this spring—Stewart has put together five straight sub-80 rounds and three consecutive top 20 individual tournament finishes, while Blaylock owns a string of six sub-80 rounds and three straight top 40 finishes.
Natalie Kinney, Trinity Hernandez, and Kelly More round out the Wildcat quintet set to tackle the par-71, 5,897-yard Poppy Hills layout.
Chico State enters the Patriot Invitational ranked No. 83 on the latest Golfstat Division II national rankings. Seven of the top 15 teams in the NCAA West Region rankings—No. 1 Dallas Baptist (No. 4 nationally), No. 3 Cal State San Marcos (10th in the nation), No. 5 Biola (No. 27 nationally), No. 7 Sonoma State (37th in the nation), No. 12 Cal State Monterey Bay (No. 36 nationally), No. 13 Academy of Art (47th in the nation), and No. 14 Cal State LA (No. 34 nationally)—will also be competing in the Patriot Invitational.
Four other talented teams will tee it up Monday at Poppy Hills. Limestone University (South Carolina) is No. 3 nationally and No. 3 in the NCAA South Region rankings; Northeastern State (Oklahoma) is 45th in the nation and No. 7 in the NCAA Central Region, and Flagler College (St. Augustine, Florida) is ranked No. 28 in the latest Golfstat rankings. George Fox University is ranked No. 5 nationally and No. 1 in the West among Division III schools.
