UM golf closes out fall with top-10 finish

The University of Montana golf team finished in fifth place at the TaylorMade Aztec Fall Classic on Tuesday to close out its fall season.

UM shot a 609 for the 36-hole tournament to finish in a tie with Notre Dame, 27 strokes behind tournament winner Denver.

Three other Big Sky Conference teams participated in the tournament. Sacramento State finished in 10th place, while Portland State and Northern Arizona landed 14th- and 16th-place finishes,
respectively. By finishing ahead of Sac State, UM has beaten all eight of its conference foes during the fall season. Eastern Washington was the lone Big Sky team to beat Montana, the defending conference champion, this fall.

UM senior Jill Walker led the Griz with a 148 and finished tied for 13th place on the individual leaderboard. Walker was the top Big Sky finisher for her second-straight tournament.

UM will next be in action at the Northern Arizona Invitational in Sedona, Ariz., in April. UM head coach Joanne Steele expects to return to the squad by January after missing three of UM’s four fall tournaments following a successful heart transplant in September.