RACHAEL AND DENVER UNIVERSITY TEAM-MATES WIN WEST CONFERENCE TITLE

Rachael Watton from Edinburgh is in that victorious Denver University line-up ... but we cannot identify her! Martin Dempster (The Scotsman and Edinburgh Evening News golf writer) says that Rachael is second from the end right. Thanks, Martin! Mary Richardson, another Lothian golf expert agrees. FROM THE DENVER UNIVERSITY WEBSITE MESA, Arizona  – The University of Denver women’s golf team, which included Scotland international Rachael Watton from Edinburgh,  won its 10th-straight conference title by winning its first Western Athletic Conference Championship by 12 strokes at Longbow Golf Club, Mesa in Arizona.  Now Rachael and her team-mates are bound for California and the Stanford University golf course (which Tiger Woods and Mhairi McKay used to call home) to play in the next stage of the road to the NCAA championships: The West Regionals from May 9 to 11. Junior Tonje Daffinrud (Tonsberg, Norwary) won the individual title at Mesa with a seven-under 209 (68-72-69) over a 6163yd par-72 course, six strokes ahead of San Jose State’s Regan De Guzman (70-74-71), and was named the WAC Player of the Year. “We got off to a slow start today, but Tonje played well for us the entire tournament,” WAC Coach of the Year Lindsay Hulwick said.  “Elyse stepped up for us today too, and shot her second-straight round at one-over. To win the 10th-conference championship is really important to this program and me personally as a first-year head coach.  "This time around we were obviously in a different conference and a very competitive field with four teams in top 50, and I thought all five of our girls stepped up this week. We’ve gotten better and better in each tournament this spring, and that was our goal this winter. We’re looking forward to NCAA postseason play.” Denver combined for an 18-over 882 at the three-day event. The Pioneers saw its nine-stroke lead entering the day cut down to as little as four, but made those strokes up on the back nine to secure the comfortable margin entering the last three holes. In all, three Pioneers finished in the top-10, as senior Kelly Drack (Melbourne, Fla.) and freshman Elyse Smidinger (Crofton, Md.) joined Daffinrud in that group. Drack shot a five-over 77 this afternoon and Smidinger shot a one-over 73 on Wednesday, as the Pioneer duo finished the competition tied for sixth with matching scores of seven-over (223). Redshirt-senior Melissa Martin (Grand Junction, Colo.) carded a five-over 77 to finish the tournament in 15th place at 12-over. Sophomore Rachael Watton (Edinburgh, Scotland) also shot a five-over 77 on Wednesday, and finished the tournament in 18th with a 14-over 230. Rachael's earlier rounds were 78 and 75. The individual victory is Daffinrud’s second tournament win of her career, and her sixth top 10 finish of the season. Daffinrud’s victory is Denver’s eighth individual conference title in its 15-year history, a list that now includes seven different golfers.  The Pioneer junior is now one of six golfers to win multiple tournaments in her career in program history, and her tournament score of seven-under ties for the fourth-best mark in school history.   Daffinrud was named to the All-WAC First Team, while Smidinger and Watton earned second-team honors. +England's Brogan Towend, a student at Texas-San Antionia finished 28th in the field od 35 players at Mesa. She score d79, 80 and 76 for a total of 235.

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