Women's Golf preview: Big 12 Championship
April 22, 2009 UP NEXT: The Texas Women’s Golf team will travel to Lubbock, Texas, for the 54-hole Big 12 Championship beginning on Friday, April 24. The Rawls Course (par-73, 6,564-yards) will host the three-day tourney. Texas will begin the league championship in the first group of pairings at 8 a.m. on Friday and will play with Missouri and Texas Tech off of the first tee. Weekend pairings will be determined by team standings after each round, and play on Saturday and Sunday will begin at 8 a.m. in split-tee formats. LIVE SCORING: Fans can follow the Longhorns in action online at GolfStat.com. TEXAS LINEUP: Martha Richards will use the following lineup for the Big 12 Championship: senior Kelley Louth (Victoria, Texas), freshman Nicole Vandermade (Brantford, Ontario), junior Shannon Fish (Spring, Texas), senior Kristin Walla (Aspen, Colo.) and senior Caney Hines (San Antonio, Texas). LAST TIME OUT: Senior Kelley Louth (80-73-76) fired a final-round 4-over-par 76 in the Indiana Invitational (April 6-7) to record a career-best tie for second place at 13-over 229. As a team, the Longhorns (323-312-313=948, +84) posted a third-place finish in the 54-hole event that saw all elements of winter weather over both days.
LAST YEAR AT THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP: Texas then-sophomore Shannon Fish tied for sixth place after firing an even-par 79 in the final round while then-senior Ashley Rollins added a tie for 10th place as the Longhorns took third place at the 2008 Big 12 Women's Golf Championship at the par 72, 6,210-yard Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. Texas saved its finest round for last, firing a 30-over 318 in the final round to end the event in third with a 94-over 958. LEADING THE LONGHORNS: Freshman Nicole Vandermade has paced the Longhorns this season with a team-best scoring average of 74.8. Although Vandermade holds the low average for UT, junior Shannon Fish accounted for the squad’s lowest round in relation to par and raw score with a 4-under 68 at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown. SOLID SENIOR: Senior Kelley Louth is making the most of her final rounds as a Longhorn. Louth has been Texas’ top finisher in its last three tournament appearances with a tie for 10th place at the UCF Challenge (March 8-10), tie for 29th at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational (March 20-22) and a career-best tie for second at the Indiana Invitational (April 6-7). Her fiery finale began on March 1 at The University of Texas Golf Club when she tied fellow senior Caney Hines for medalist honors in Texas’ match against Texas State. VANDERMADE OFF THE TEE: Freshman Nicole Vandermade has taken advantage of her distance off the tee, especially on par-5 holes. She ranks 27th nationally with a par-5 scoring average of 4.87. Additionally, she is tied for 45th with 59 birdies through 25 rounds of golf, which is an average of 2.4 birdies per round. FISH FINDING THE FAIRWAY: Consistency may very well be the key to junior Shannon Fish’s golf game. Fish has hit 89.1 percent of her fairways this season for a mark that ties her for 11th nationally. |
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