Women's Golf builds eight-stroke lead at Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational
Nov. 1, 2011
AUSTIN, Texas -- Aided by a field-best second-round team score of 5-over-par 293 and a 1-under from junior Madison Pressel, the Texas Women's Golf team (288-293) moved to the top of the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational leaderboard at 5-over 581. UT holds an eight-stroke advantage over second-place Florida (285-304)entering Wednesday's final round of the annual event at The University of Texas Golf Club.
Pressel also rallied on `moving day' and climbed into second place at 1-under 143 (72-71). She carded birdies on the fifth, 11th and 18th holes to counter bogeys on the first and 17th. A win for Pressel would mark her second collegiate victory since previously winning the 2011 Big 12 Championship in April.
Jessica Reese was the last Longhorn to win the Betsy Rawls in 2003 and Texas last earned the team hardware in 11 years ago in 1999.
Senior Nicole Vandermade (72-73=145) also crept into the Top 10 with a second-round 73. She is tied for sixth place at 1-over. Junior Desiree Dubreuil (72-75) is two strokes back at 147 and tied for 13th place.
Juniors Haley Stephens (72-79) and Katelyn Sepmoree (77-74) are tied for 33rd place to round out the Longhorn contingent.
Florida's Mia Piccio (71-70) holds the individual lead at 3-under 141 and three players trail Pressel in a tie for third place at even-par 144.
Wednesday's final round will begin in a shotgun start at 8:45 a.m. Central. Texas will play alongside Florida and Tulsa where Pressel and Piccio will battle for the 2011 Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational individual title starting on the first tee.
Team standings (through two rounds) 1. TEXAS - 288-293=581 (+5) 2. Florida - 285-304=589 (+13) 3. Tulsa - 293-301=594 (+18) 4. Oklahoma State - 290-305=595 (+19) 5. Pepperdine - 297-299=596 (+20) 6. UNLV - 295-302=597 (+21) T7. Arizona - 304-294=598 (+22) T7. KentState - 293-305=598 (+22) T9. Denver - 298-303=601 (+25) T9. Arkansas - 299-302=601 (+25) 11. New Mexico - 299-303=602 (+26) 12. Mississippi State - 302-305=607 (+31) 13. Iowa - 297-313=610 (+34) 14. Wisconsin - 303-315=618 (+42) 15. Princeton - 315-315=630 (+54)
Top-10 individual standings (through two rounds) 1. Mia Piccio, Florida - 71-70=141 (-3) 2. Madison Pressel, TEXAS - 72-71=143 (-1) T3. AllyMcDonald, Mississippi State - 72-72=144 (E) T3. Kristina Merkle, Tulsa - 70-74=144 (E) T3. Andrea Vilarasau, Arizona - 76-68=144 (E) T6. Charlotte Brooke, UNLV - 72-73=145 (+1) T6. EmmaLavy, Arkansas - 72-73=145 (+1) T6. Kelly Shon, Princeton - 71-74=145 (+1) T6. Nicole Vandermade, TEXAS - 72-73=145 (+1) T6. Kelsey Vines, Oklahoma State - 70-75=145 (+1)
Additional Texas player standings T13. Desiree Dubreuil - 72-75=147 (+3) T33. Haley Stephens - 72-79=151 (+7) T33. Katelyn Sepmoree - 77-74=151 (+7)
Texas individual standings T64. Megan Rosenfeld - 80-77=157 (+13) 79. Alyssa Morgan - 79-88=167 (+23)
Post-round quotes Texas Head Coach Martha Richards On today's round: Today we did a great job of managing thegolf course in the wind and the conditions. There are some difficult hole locations out there, and the wind always makes it more challenging out here. I think what I was most impressed with was how we managed our golf games and our emotions and stayed patient. It showed a tremendous amount of authority.
On what it would mean to close the seasonwith a win at Texas' home course: It would be great. It would be great to start with a win at A&M and finish with a win. Obviously you feel good about that going into the off-season. It has been a long time since Texas has won the Betsy Rawls, so we would like to do that, but more than anything, what we are striving to do is to play the best golf we can play. If we can do that, we are going to take care of our business and the win will be a result of that. It is always fun to win and it is fun to win at home. That is what we are going to shoot for and we are going to try to get some good rest tonight and be ready in the morning.
Junior Madison Pressel On playing the course in the wind: It probably affected me in a positive way, because I have played this course so many times in the wind, and being fromFlorida we have tons of wind, and coming here you get used to practicing it and playing this course when it gets windy. It was a lot tougher today than it was yesterday, as scores show. As long as you pay attention to it, and we know where you can miss and where you want to hit, and where the wind is going to help you. I think that really helped me.
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