Garner wins Gold Rush Tournament, BYU ties for third

Day One Recap

SEAL BEACH, Calif. – A title-winning performance from Lea Garner led the Cougars to a tie for third place Tuesday in the Gold Rush Tournament presented by Southern California Ford Dealers.

“Lea was just solid,” said BYU head coach Carrie Roberts. “She played her game, stayed patient, stayed in the present and played well enough to win.”

Garner, who shot 216, took first place over a large field including Long Beach State standouts Kassidy Teare, Chaewon Park and Savannah Knox, who came in second, third and fourth place respectively.

“This is their home course and they’ve been playing in this weather so it’s a huge advantage to them,” Roberts said. “For Lea to come in there and knock them off says a lot about who she is as a golfer.”

Combined with better days from Kendra Dalton and Annie Young, Garner’s win helped the Cougars move up from sixth place Monday to a third place tie with UC Riverside today with 907 points.

“We started off awesome,” Roberts said. “We started off really good, made a lot of bogies in the middle, then we made a lot of birdies.”

“I think we had the third best score of the day,” Roberts said. “That says something—each round got a little bit better. We were a lot better mentally, we were sharper and the girls really wanted to move up and they showed it.”

Long Beach State maintained yesterday’s lead for the team win with 883 points, followed by Fresno State’s second place performance with 902 points.

BYU will travel to San Jose State February 23-24 for the Juli Inkster Spartan Invitational.

The Gold Rush, Long Beach State- Feb 9-10, 2015