Gritty group from Wyoming builds big opening cushion at Women’s National Golf Invitational

“They amaze me because of what they have been through physically to still continue to show up and weather the storm,” Stender said after her team rose to the top of the leaderboard in the first round of the NGI. “I think every coach goes through years where you’re battling some injuries and setbacks, but this team just didn’t ever let it become an obstacle. ” This, as Stender said, is the Wyoming Way.

Hers is a gritty, resourceful bunch who can figure out how to take a winter of indoor practice and physical therapy and parlay it into a nine-shot first-round lead in the postseason. Wyoming, with its 1-under 287 at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona, built an immediate nine-shot cushion on Friday. Bradley and defending NGI champion Rutgers both had team scores of 8 over.

More: NGI SCORES Wyoming may be a cold-weather team, but the Cowgirls have found a dessert home at Southern Dunes. For the past several seasons, both the men’s and women’s teams have hosted events at the course in early April. Stender said familiarity with the golf course played a big role in her team’s confident start.

“They’re very comfortable on this golf course and I think a lot of it has to do with the sense of pride and the real ownership they have,” she said. “It’s our home away from home so while the course setup was a little bit different than how we play it, I think that they took advantage of knowing where not to miss and with our length, we knew we could take advantage of the par 5s and some of the shorter par 4s. ” Wyoming led the field in par-5 scoring, going 6 under on those holes (outscoring Bradley by four shots) and also had the most birdies (17) of any of the 10 teams in the field.