Jessica Mason, past winner of Women’s Western Junior and a girls state high school title, transferring to play at Trinity in Texas; DU women post runner-up finishes as a team and individually to start the ‘spring’ season
By Gary Baines – 2/6/2024
Jessica Mason of Westminster, one of the top female golfers in Colorado in the high school graduation class of 2022, has found herself a new college home after one and a half strong years at Pomona Pitzer in California.
Mason was recently added to the roster at Trinity University in San Antonio, like Pomona Pitzer one of the better programs in women’s NCAA Division III golf.
Mason was a standout junior player in Colorado in 2021 and ’22, winning the 4A girls state high school individual title by 10 strokes and the Colorado Junior PGA Championship three years ago, and prevailing at the very prestigious Women’s Western Junior in ’22. She graduated from Holy Family High School.
And Mason has continued her strong play as a college golfer. Last season as a freshman at Pomona Pitzer, Mason was named one of nine first-team NCAA Division III All-Americans by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association, and she finished 25th in the women’s NCAA DIII national championships. And as a sophomore in the fall, she posted two top-four showings in four starts and is ranked No. 10 in the country in women’s DIII by Scoreboard powered by Clippd.
Pomona Pitzer is currently ranked third in the nation in women’s DIII golf, while Trinity is 27th.
Mason’s older brother, Jacob, plays for the Trinity men’s golf squad.
Jessica Mason indicated she wasn’t happy with the team atmosphere at Pomona Pitzer and didn’t think the program was a good fit for her.
“I was losing my love for golf there, so I decided I needed to leave, and being with my brother was the best option,” Mason texted on Tuesday.
The spring season opener for the Trinity women’s team is Feb. 26-27 at the Space City Classic in Houston.
Meanwhile, also in college golf, the University of Denver women’s team finished second out of 13 schools on Tuesday at the FAU Paradise Invitational in Boca Raton, Fla., the Pioneers’ first tournament of the spring portion of their schedule.
Fifth-year player Anna Zanusso, who was looking for her fourth career individual college victory, fell just short, sharing second place out of 75 contestants. Zanusso was tied for the lead down the stretch, but bogeyed the par-5 final hole and ended up two strokes behind champion Melanie Green of South Florida, who birdied the 18th.
Zanusso went 70-69-73 for a 4-under-par total. It was her fourth runner-up showing in the last season and a half.
Clara Gestsdottir (ninth) and Emma Bryant (18th) also posted top-20 finishes on Tuesday, as did two-time CGA Women’s Player of the Year Leigha Devine of Rutgers, who ended up 12th after sharing the lead going into the final round.
As a team, DU finished four strokes behind winner South Florida. It marked the second time this season the Pioneers have posted a second-place finish.
For all the scores from the Paradise Invitational, CLICK HERE.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. He was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com