Great weather and a great golf course added up to a great
victory for Xavier Prep’s Gators in the inaugural Brophy-Xavier Invitational on
Friday (Sept. 23) and Saturday (Sept. 24) at the newly renovated Grand Canyon
University course in west Phoenix.
Xavier outdistanced its four opponents by a substantial
margin. The Gators posted 595 strokes at the former Phoenix-owned Maryvale Golf
Course. Tucson Salpointe Catholic was second with 718, followed by Scottsdale
Desert Mountain with 720, Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep with 750 and Chandler
Seton Catholic with 874.
Xavier freshman Ashley Menne and senior Emily Mahar shared
the top individual score with 143, but Menne was tabbed as the tournament’s
medalist in a “scorecard playoff’’ – her final-round score was lower, a
two-under par 69 to Mahar’s 72.
Other Xavier scores in the match were sophomore Eve Worden
at 155, senior Elizabeth Caldarelli at 156 and senior Lily Worden at 158.
![]() |
Xavier's Gators won the inaugural Brophy-Xavier Invitational by a whopping 123 strokes. (Photo courtesy of Sr. Lynn Winsor). |
Coaches Sr. Lynn Winsor and Tui Selvaratnam had four rising
young players participate. They were junior Madeline Brown at 165, sophomore
Holly Otlewski at 166, sophomore Emily Cons at 172 and sophomore Laura Lu at
183. That group was 20 shots better than its first-day showing on Friday.
“This was our first one (invitational) and we are really
excited about how it went,’’ Winsor said. “We are really happy and I know the
kids liked it (course).’’
Xavier and Brophy are hoping for more participants next
year. Brophy was the top finisher among eight boys teams.
The City of Phoenix still owns the course and Grand Canyon
University will manage the layout over 30 years after pumping $10 million into
it. There are numerous upgrades, including a new clubhouse and work on all of
the holes, designed by Scottsdale architect John Fought.
“Grand Canyon did a marvelous job with the course,’’ Winsor
said. “The fairways were good, the water holes were beautiful, the bunkers were
well-groomed and the greens were immaculate.’’
The Gators now will get a break of nearly two weeks before
its final two matches of the regular season. They will not be played at the
team’s primary venue, Phoenix Country Club, but staged at the team’s “second’’
home at Camelback Golf Club in Scottsdale. Opponents are Goodyear Millennium on
Oct. 5 and Tempe Corona del Sol and Scottsdale Chaparral on Oct. 12.
Brophy finished with 591 points on Saturday, followed by
Notre Dame (593), Seton (599), Chaparral (611), Salpointe (614), Phoenix Desert
Vista (620), Desert Mountain (639) and Phoenix Thunderbird (643).
Seton’s Alejandro de Zavala was the boys medalist with a
137. Both of his rounds were under par at 70 and 67.
No comments:
Post a Comment