SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly sophomore Caroline Cantlay, who earned her first career collegiate victory at the UC Irvine Invitational last week, has been named Big West Women's Golfer of the Month.
Cantlay shattered the school record for lowest score over 54 holes as she carded a 10-under-par 206 at the 54-hole tournament conducted at the Santa Ana Country Club. The previous record belonged to Sophie Bergland, who had a 212 total at the Bobcat Desert Invitational in April 2017.
A graduate of Rosary Academy in Fullerton and a resident of Los Alamitos, Calif., Cantlay followed her rounds of 68 and 70 Monday with another 68 Tuesday to win by three strokes over Cameron Lee of San Diego State and Erica Wang of Cal Baptist. Her 206 score obliterated her previous best for 54 holes by 18 strokes.
She became Cal Poly's 12th individual winner since the inception of the program in 2000.
Her dominating performance on the 6,072-yard, par-72 Santa Ana Country Club course sparked Cal Poly to the team championship, the 23rd tournament title in program history. Cantlay's 138 for 36 holes also represented a school record.
Led by Cantlay, the team set school records for 18, 36 and 54 holes. The 54-hole aggregate of 859 surpassed the old mark of 871 established in the Rose City Collegiate hosted by Portland State on Sept. 25-26, 2017.
Cantlay also competed in one other tournament in October – the Pat Lesser-Harbottle Invitational. She tied for 30th overall with a score of 230. She fired a final round 74 to help the Mustangs finish seventh out of 18 teams.
Zach Smith of UC Santa Barbara was named Big West Men's Golfer of the Month for the third time as he shot par or better in all nine rounds he competed in for the month of October.
The UC Irvine Invitational was Cal Poly's last of the fall season. Coach Sofie Aagaard's Mustangs return to the links Feb. 11-12 in the Battle at The Rock, to be contested at the Oak Quarry Golf Course in Riverside, Calif.