Golf, Luethke win tournament title

By Zack Walton

It doesn’t take long for the Fresno State women’s golf program to accomplish what they set out to do.

Shortly after Angie Cates was hired as the coach for the first-year program, she signed Laura Luethke, possibly the best high school golfer in the Valley.

In her first collegiate tournament, Luethke captured the Ptarmigan/Ram Classic title Sept. 14 in Colorado.

And in only the team’s second competition, women’s golf claimed its first victory in the Sacramento State Invitational at the Riverside Country Club in Fresno, as Luethke won her second consecutive title.

“The team has been working really hard for the past couple months and it is all slowly coming together,” Cates said. “Each day we get better and to have a win this early in the season is really nice. I think it will boost our confidence a lot for the tougher part of our season.”

Fresno State shot 615 in the two-day tournament, beating Santa Clara (628) and Sacramento State (363).

Luethke continued her streak of individual victories by shooting a two under 145 total, being the only player to shoot a sub-par round during the tournament. After shooting a 74 on the first day of competition, in which Cates said Luethke did not have her best-round, she was able to bounce back with a 71 on Tuesday.

“I was much happier with my game today,” Luethke said. “Overall I was more relaxed and I made better swings.”

Laura’s father Ed, a former All-American golfer at Fresno State, is currently a golf pro at Riverside.

Luethke said she felt more demand to win the tournament because it was being played on the course she practiced at all summer and had played countless times.

I felt pretty confident coming into the tournament,” Luethke said. “But I did feel some added pressure because [Riverside] is like my home course.”

The Bulldogs’ next competition is Oct. 11-12 when Fresno State plays in the Bronco Fall Invitational in Boise, Idaho.