Sept. 15, 2009
Complete Results in PDF Format 
SPOKANE, Wash. - One day after Sage Suffecool tied the school record with a 70, freshman Victoria Fallgren shattered the mark with a final-round 67 Tuesday on her way to medalist honors of the Bulldog and Eagle Invitational women's golf tournament at Hangman Valley Golf Course.
Fallgren, who captured the title in her collegiate debut, capped a record-setting tournament for the Bulldogs.
In addition to her record round, her 54-hole score of 217 set the mark for the lowest 54-hole score. The previous mark was held by current Bulldog Jessica Howe and Mary Kate Morgan at 220. Howe recorded her score at the CU Heather Farr Memorial hosted by the University of Colorado last year, while Morgan's came in 2005 at the Ptarmigan/Ram Fall Classic hosted by Colorado State University.
Northern Arizona University, the defending Big Sky Conference champions, captured the team title with a 900 beating the University of Montana at 906 and the Bulldogs at 913.
"I'm kind of surprised I was as tired as I thought I'd be," Fallgren said of her Tuesday round coming off 36 holes Monday. "I struck the ball well on the range, then got in a groove on the course."
The turning point of her record-setting round was "when I birdied number four as opposed to doubling (bogey) it like I did the first round," she said. "I know a lot of freshmen struggle when they get into college so this is nice."
Fallgren didn't know she was on a record pace.
"Cool. I'm surprised no one had gotten lower," she said of the record-setting round.
Suffecool took her finish in stride after going into the final round with the lead, and had nothing but compliments for her teammate.
"Not good today," the junior said of her round. "I had a lot of putts. I thought I was going to win, that was my mindset. I had some bad shots and let my emotions get to me a little bit. I finished the last six holes in 1-under so that was okay.
"I played well yesterday but I still feel I left a lot of good shots out there but it's encouraging for the season," she said.
Suffecool was happy for Fallgren.
"It's definitely good to see Victoria win her first tournament ever. I think we can be pretty good. If we all have our good days, which we should eventually, I think we'll be okay. We can't have the first two rounds like we did yesterday (Monday). Today was better," the team captain said.
"There's room for improvement. We just need to play normal," Fallgren said.
Head coach Brad Rickel was more than pleased with the individual accolades.
"Obviously, we are incredibly excited about our individual finishes. Victoria proved what I already knew is that she's going to be possibly one of the best freshmen in the country and a final-round 67 beats every record we've ever had here. We'll get to a stronger field next week and see how we fair there," Rickel said in reference to next week's tournament at Washington State University.
" Sage played a great two rounds, had a lead and ended up staying in second place. It wasn't quite her day but she battled and finished 1-under for her last six holes. And then Genna finishing in the top 10. So we have two freshmen, one taking first and one taking ninth. Genna probably should have been in the lineup this weekend next week she will," Rickel said.
Among the other marks the Bulldogs set or tied:
*The 297 the Bulldogs shot in Tuesday's final round ties the second-best 18-hole score. The Bulldogs set the mark in the 2006 Inland Empire Women's Intercollegiate played at Hangman Valley and equaled it last season in the CU Heather Farr Memorial.
*Gonzaga's 913 is the second-lowest 54-hole tournament score, set in the 2006 I.E. Women's Invitational.
*Suffecool's 36-hole total of 144 Monday tied the mark set by Howe last year in the Fresno State Lexus Classic hosted by Fresno State University.
After opening with a bogey Tuesday, Fallgren rattled off birdies on 2, 4, 5, 8, 10 and 13 until bogeying 16 and finishing with a birdie on the 18th.
Suffecool, who entered Tuesday's final round with a 4-stroke lead, had birdies at 3 and 5 but bogeyed 4, 8, 9 and 10, took a double bogey at 12 and birdied 15. She finished the last six holes 1-under par.
Suffecool finished tied for second with Carissa Simmons of the University of Montana at 221. Simmons won the tie-breaker for trophy purposes by virtue of her birdie on 18 Tuesday while Suffecool shot par.
Overshadowed by Fallgren and Suffecool was the play of freshman Genna Dodge, who was entered as an individual in the tournament. After an opening-round 81 she posted back-to-back 73s to finish tied for ninth at 227. Her round included two birdies and three bogeys over the 6,077-yard, par 72 layout.
The Bulldogs finished third for the second straight year in this tournament, last year's event held at The Links in Post Falls, Idaho, while Hangman Valley was undergoing renovations.
The Bulldogs will play in the Inland Northwest Dodge Dealers Cup at Palouse Ridge Golf Course hosted by WSU next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The tournament format will be 18 holes each day.
