BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Playing on its home course at Bellingham Golf & Country Club, the Western Washington University women's golf team holds a two-stroke lead following the first round of the 2021 WWU Spring Invitational.
 
Battling windy conditions and a firm golf course, the Vikings carded a 34-over-par team round of 322 to lead the three-team field. Northwest Nazarene is in 2^nd place two strokes back at 36-over-par 324 and Saint Martin's is in 3^rd place at 51-over-par 339.
 
WWU second-year freshman Sophia Schmidt leads the 16-player field carding a 5-over-par 77 in the opening round. Schmidt, a Bellingham native, holds a two-stroke advantage over Northwest Nazarene's Ragan McGilvery (+7, 79) entering Tuesday's final round.
 
Second-year freshman Elise Sumner is tied for 5^th at 9-over-par 81 and freshman Dani Bailey and sophomore Sarah Shea are tied for 7^th place at 10-over-par 82.
 
"We were tested today, even on our home course, with the windy conditions and a firm golf course," said WWU Director of Golf Luke Bennett. "Sophia had a very rock-solid opening round and I saw some good things out of the team. We need to have a cleaner finish and I think the team is ready to have a great final round on Tuesday."
 
The final 18 holes of the 36-hole tournament begins teeing off on the par 72, 5,804-yard layout Tuesday morning at 9 am. Final results from the tournament will be posted on WWUVikings.com/WG_Invite.
  Here is a look at WWU's individual results and the team leaderboard following the first round of the WWU Spring Invitational at Bellingham Golf & Country Club.
 

2021 WWU Spring Invitational Bellingham Golf & Country Club  »  Bellingham, WA Par 72  »  5,804 Yards
Pos.	Team/Player	To Par	Rd 1	Rd 2	Total
1st	Western Washington	+34	322	--	322
1st	Sophia Schmidt	+5	77	--	77
T-5th	Elise Sumner	+9	81	--	81
T-7th	Danielle Bailey	+10	82	--	82
T-7th	Sarah Shea	+10	82	--	82
15th	Kolby Heggenes	+17	89	--	89
Pos.	Team	To Par	Rd 1	Rd 2	Total
1.	Western Washington	+34	322	--	322
2.	Northwest Nazarene	+36	324	--	324
3.	Saint Martin's	+51	339	--	339

  Here is a look at the spring schedule for the WWU Women's Golf program. All updates, including daily tournament results, will be posted on WWUVikings.com/WGolf.
 

Dates	Tournament	Location / Course	Results
March 8-9	Nighthawk Invitational	Livermore, CA (Poppy Ridge Golf Course)	4th of 8 teams
March 21	El Cheapo Classic	Pueblo, CO (Walking Stick Golf Course)	6th of 14 teams
April 2-3	Palm Valley Classic	Goodyear, AZ (Palm Valley Golf Club)	T-8th of 20 teams
April 12-13	WWU Invitational	Bellingham, WA (Bellingham Golf & Country Club)	In Progress
April 19-20	GNAC Championships	DuPont, WA (The Home Course)
May 2-3	NCAA II West/South Central Regional	Denton, TX (Wildhorse Golf Club at Robson Ranch)
May 12-15	NCAA National Championships	Detroit, MI (TPC Michigan)