The Long Beach State women’s golf team couldn’t overcome a 12-stroke deficit in the final round of the Big West Conference Championships on Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. on Tuesday as the 49ers finished in second place to No. 19-ranked UC Davis.
The 49ers registered a 10-over par 298 in the third round of the seven-team tournament to finish with a total score of 21-over 885.
Meanwhile, the Aggies carded a 4-over 292 in the final frame to register a winning score of 3-over 867 — 18 strokes ahead of the ‘Niners, 28 shots ahead of third place Cal Poly (+18), and 34 ahead of fourth place UC Irvine (+37).
UC Riverside (+58) rounded out the top 5, followed by Cal State Northridge (+62) in sixth and Cal State Fullerton (+83) in seventh.
LBSU junior Monica Villarreal spearheaded The Beach’s total as she finished in second place with a score of 4-under 212.
Villarreal, who trailed UC Davis’ Alice Kim by six shots heading into Tuesday’s third round, fell five strokes short of capturing a share of the individual crown. The junior carded a 1-over 73 in the final round.
Her best round came in the first day when she recorded the second best score of the entire tournament with a career-best 5-under 67. Villarreal sank four birdies on the back-nine without a single bogey through the first 18 holes of action.
However, she wasn’t able to close in on Kim in the second round after bogeying twice on the front-nine.
Despite shooting a 2-over 74 in the final round, however, Kim claimed the individual title with a 9-under 207 total. Her tournament was highlighted by a tournament-low 6-under 66 in the first round thanks to six birdies and no bogeys.
Freshman Rochelle Chan was the only other LBSU golfer to break the top 10 in the individual standings as she finished in a tie for 10th with an overall mark of 10-over 226.
Chan, who shot a 6-over in third round, still managed to move up a spot in the individual leaderboard from Monday’s total after a majority of the 35-player field carded higher scores.
Senior Lindsey McAtee fell four spots in the third round to finish in a tie for 13th as she fired an 11-over 227 total.
McAtee’s day was plagued by a double-bogey and three bogeys, while only converting one birdie on the 18th hole.
Teammate Reina Rogers, who began the day tied for 18th, finished tied for 16th as she carded a 14-over 230.
Despite, three bogeys and a double bogey on the back-nine, Rogers sank three birdies for a respectable 3-over 75 in the final round.
Following a seven-spot jump from the first round, LBSU sophomore Simone Hoey improved an additional four spots to finish in a tie for 21st.
Hoey shot a 2-over 74 in the final round, which marked the second best score on the team for the day as she finished with a 15-over 231.
The sophomore avoided a disappointing finish after sinking two birdies on the back-nine to partially offset four bogeys through the first seven holes.
The 49ers will now wait and see if they will qualify for an at-large bid in the NCAA Regionals hosted by the University of Washington in Seattle on May 5. If not the squad will have to wait until 2012 to make a postseason run.
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