Vanessa Betancourt, UC Riverside  Women's Golfer of the Month (September)  Senior • Huntington Beach, Calif.

• After a trio of solid showings to start the 2023-24 campaign, UC Riverside’s Vanessa Betancourt has earned the season’s first Big West Women’s Golfer of the Month award for September. 

• The senior paced the Highlanders in all three events in the month, picking up two top 5 individual finishes.  

• Betancourt fired off rounds of 73, 70 and 65 to compile a total of 8-under 208 at the Timpanogos Collegiate Invitational to open the fall. The total was good for a tie for fourth in the field of 104 golfers, and the final round 65 marks a new career-best round. UC Riverside finished in a tie for seventh out of 19 in the team standings as the Highlanders posted a program-record three-day total of 2-over 866. 

• The Huntington Beach, Calif., again led the team while finishing in with a tie for 20th at the Leadership and Golf Invitational at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash. A first-round score of 5-under 67 with seven birdies on the card highlighted the week. 

• Finally, Betancourt tied for fifth at the Couer D’Alene Resort Invitational with a three-round tally of 1-under 212. Betancourt rolled in 13 total birdies and played the Par 5s at 4-under on the week, tied for fourth in the field of 73 with a 4.67 strokes per hole average on the four longest holes on the course. 

• This marks a first career monthly honor for Betancourt.

Also Nominated: Jensen Jalufka (Cal Poly); Abby Leighton (UC Davis); Janae Leovao (Long Beach State); Sarah Mutai (Cal State Bakersfield); Emiko Sverduk (Hawai’i); Davina Xanh (Cal State Fullerton) 

Historical Big West Women's Golf Monthly Winners