Arizona women’s golf claims first victory of 2019 in Rebel Beach Invitational

The Arizona women’s golf team collected their first team win of the season Tuesday, when they finished in first place at the Rebel Beach Invitational in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The defending national championships were able to hold off host school UNLV to claim the victory by four strokes.

Much like in the Wildcats’ first tournament of the season a couple weeks ago in California, adverse weather conditions had a distinct impact on play over the duration of the two-day event. No team in the 16-school field shot a combined score under par, with Arizona’s team score of 14-over good enough to seal the win in 40-degree weather and winds of up to 20 MPH.

In the first round on Monday, Arizona senior Bianca Pagdanganan set the tone early, birdying five of her first eight holes to give the Wildcats the lead in the invitational right from the jump.

After the first day, which featured two different 18-hole rounds, Pagdanganan led the field with the most total birdies and finished the day in second place in the individual standings, shooting a 70 and 71 in the two rounds, respectively.

Pagdanganan ended the event tied for third place in the individual standings, after she concluded Tuesday’s final round three with a score of 78 to bring her final score to three-over par. Fellow senior Haley Moore, who sank the national championship winning putt last season, finished the event tied for sixth place after she shot a 74,73,73 over her three rounds to finish at six-over for the invitational.

Freshman Ya Chun Chang was Arizona’s third highest finisher in the individual standings, finishing in eighth place after shooting 73, 78, 70 over her three rounds to total a final score of five-over par. Coming off her second-place finish in the individual standings last time out, sophomore Yu-Sang Hou was the Wildcats fourth best finisher in Las Vegas, finishing tied for 13th place with a score of eight-over.

After a somewhat disappointing start to the season a couple weeks back in California, the Wildcats’ victory in Vegas was a step in the right direction in their quest to repeat as NCAA National Champions this year. The confidence gained from the win should have a positive impact moving forward.

The Wildcats are back in action March 11 when they host the Wildcat Invitational at the Sewailo Golf Club in Tucson.

Here are the final individual and team standings from Arizona’s win in the Rebel Beach Invitational:

Arizona Individual Leaderboard

T3. Bianca Pagdanganan (+3)

T6. Haley Moore (+4)

8. Ya Chun Chang (+5)

T13. Yu-Sang Hou (+8)

T10. Sandra Nordaas (+10)

Team Leaderboard

1. Arizona (+14)

2. UNLV (+18)

3. Virginia (+28)

4. Oregon (+31)

5. San Jose State (+34)

6. Colorado (+37)

7. Fresno State (+54)

T8. BYU (+58)

T8. New Mexico (+58)

T8. Nevada (+58)

11. Long Beach State (+59)

12. Charlotte (+64)

13. UC Irvine (+69)

14. Colorado State (+75)

15. New Mexico State (+79)

16. Northern Arizona (+82)