CSU women post program-record 3rd team victory of season as Andrea Bergsdottir scores 2nd individual win of spring; Coloradans Leigha Devine, Connor Jones notch top-10s
By Gary Baines – 3/26/2024
The Colorado State University women’s golf squad posted three team victories in a season for the first time in the 40-year history of the program, and three golfers who will be wrapping up their college golf careers this spring also came up big on Tuesday.
The CSU women, ranked 51st in the nation, not only won their third event on the season — this one at the Fresno State Classic in Fresno, Calif. — but Tuesday marked their second straight victory, after they also prevailed at the Tulane Classic. In Fresno, the Rams fended off Cal Poly and won by four strokes in the 21-team event.
On top of that, graduate student Andrea Bergsdottir continued her torrid individual streak by earning the individual title in Fresno. That gives the Swede two individual victories in the spring season — and for her career. She has finished no worse than eighth in her last six college tournaments.
Bergsdottir closed with a bogey-free 4-under-par 68 in Tuesday’s final round, leaving her at 4-under 212 overall. She’s gone sixth, eighth, first, second, eighth and first in her last half-dozen events. Joining her in the top 10 on Tuesday was teammate Panchalika Arphamongkol (eighth place).
Bergsdottir and two-time CGA Women’s Player of the Year Leigha Devine of Windsor and Rutgers battled it out for the individual title in Fresno. With the CSU golfer prevailing by two, Devine finished a season-best second, marking her second top-6 showing of the season. Devine’s lone individual college career victory to date came at the Badger Invitational in September 2022.
Leigha Devine of Windsor and Rutgers finished a season-best second on Tuesday.
Bergsdottir and Devine, both in their final semester of college golf, were tied for the lead after 12 holes on Tuesday, but the CSU golfer didn’t make any mistakes and birdied her 16th hole to give herself a little cushion.
CSU coach Laura Cilek, who took over the team in 2018, now has five team titles to her credit during her tenure in Fort Collins.
For scores from the Fresno State Classic, CLICK HERE.
Meanwhile, another fifth-year player, Connor Jones of CSU and Westminster, recorded his second straight top-10 by tying for eighth in the Oregon Duck Invitational in Eugene. The 2022 CGA Player of the Year, coming off a fifth-place showing in Pauma Valley, Calif., went 73-70-71 for a 1-over-par total in Eugene.
CSU placed fifth and the University of Colorado 10th in the 15-team field.
For results from the Oregon Duck Invitational, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com