April 06, 2008
Texas A&M closed with a 296 on Sunday and finished fourth at the PING/ASU Invitational at the Karsten Golf Course.
A&M finished ahead of nine nationally-ranked teams with a 54-hole score of 293-290-296=879, the sixth best in school history.
Sarah Zwartynski placed sixth in the individual standings and tied the A&M freshman record with a one-under-par total of 73-69-73=215. Southern California's Dewi Claire Schreefel (68-69-72=209) claimed the title in a playoff against Arizona State's Anna Nordqvist (70-70-69=209).
No. 3-ranked USC also captured the team crown with a 10-under 854. No. 4 Arizona State was second (865), followed by No. 2 UCLA (876), A&M (879), No. 8 Georgia (880), No. 12 Denver (882), No. 14 Oklahoma State (887), No. 16 California (900), No. 10 Arizona (902), No. 22 New Mexico (903), No. 17 Pepperdine (911), San Jose State (913), Washington (917), No. 23 Stanford (920), No. 24 Vanderbilt (920), San Francisco (925) and Oregon State (926).
A&M junior Lauren Johnson (79-71-73=223) tied for 27th, sophomores Ashley Freeman (74-75-75=224) and Danielle McVeigh (74-75-75=224) tied for 31st, and senior Miranda Orr (72-80-76=228) tied for 48th.
The Aggies led UCLA going into the last hole, but played the 370-yard par-4 in seven-over. Johnson and McVeigh were each one-under through 17 holes, but Johnson closed with a double bogey and McVeigh had a quadruple-bogey. Zwartynski finished with a bogey.
"We played a fantastic tournament this week," A&M Coach Trelle McCombs said. "This golf course really sets up well for us and we took advantage of that. It's unfortunate that we had a slight stumble coming in on the last hole, but overall I'm very proud of my girls and what we accomplished this week. We beat some great teams and we will take that into the Big 12 tournament in a couple of weeks."
The two-time defending Big 12 champions, A&M will defend its title at the Big 12 Championship April 25-27 in Stillwater, Okla.