DUPONT, Wash. – The Western Washington University women's golf team is in second place out of nine teams following the first round of the Saint Martin's Bishop Invitational played Friday at The Home Course.

 

The Vikings 22-over-par team round of 310 was led by a 1-over-par 73 by senior captain Megan Billeter, who is tied for first place in the 52-player field. Billeter recorded five birdies on the par 72, 5,852-yard layout to lead the field. Last season on the same course, Billeter fired a career-low of 4-under-par 68 in the first round while going on to finish in 2nd place at the SMU Invitational.

 

"Megan played very solid today and it was really cool to see her card five birdies in the round," said WWU Director of Golf Luke Bennett. "Megan has some great vibes on this course and I look for her to keep those going in tomorrow's final round."

 

WWU enters Saturday's final round nine strokes back of first-place Simon Fraser University (+13, 301) and one stroke ahead of third-place Hawai'i Hilo (+23, 311).

 

Freshman Emma Worgum is also in the top 10 in the field in a tie for 9th place at 5-over-par 77 and juniors Elise Sumner and Claire Moon are both tied for 20th place at 8-over-par 80. Billeter is tied with Meera Minhas of Simon Fraser for individual medalist honors.

 

Saturday's final round begins with an 8:30 am shotgun start with the Vikings teeing off holes 11-13 and paired with Simon Fraser, Hawai'i Hilo and Northwest Nazarene. The SMU Bishop Invitational live leaderboard can be viewed online at wwuvikings.com/WG_Live.

 

Here is a look at WWU's individual results and the team leaderboard following first round of the 2022 Saint Martin's Bishop Invitational hosted by Saint Martin's University at The Home Course:

 

Here is a look at the Vikings 2022-23 fall schedule for the WWU Women's Golf program. All tournament recaps, season statistics and program history can be found on WWUVikings.com/WGolf.

 

 

The WWU women's golf team is in its 30th season as an intercollegiate sport in 2022-23. WWU has a rich history on the links, winning the first five GNAC Championships beginning in 2011 and returned to the podium with back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022. WWU made its 12th appearance in the NCAA II West Regional Championships in 2022 after earning the GNAC's automatic bid. WWU has also made six trips to the NCAA II National Championships. A Viking has been named the GNAC Player of the Year in nine of the 11 years it has been awarded, including 2020-21 Player of the Year Elise Sumner and 2021-22 award winner Megan Billeter. WWU has also produced the only two players in GNAC history to earn four First Team All-GNAC awards (Jenn Paul and Kristen Hansen) and has had nine All-Americans.