May 10, 2008
Sarah Zwartynski's 50-foot birdie putt on the final hole was a fitting end to Texas A&M's record-setting final round on Saturday at the NCAA Women's Golf Central Regional.
The No. 19-ranked Aggies carded an even-par 288 at the UT Golf Club, the best closing postseason round in in school history, to finish fifth and advance to the NCAA Championship May 20-23 in Albuquerque. A&M will make its fourth appearance in the national finals in the last five years.
"We played more loose than we have all year," said first-year A&M Head Coach Trelle McCombs "A lot of people doubted us but the players really wanted it and got after it. I'm so pleased that their hard work and dedication this season were rewarded."
Eight teams from each of the three regionals advance to the national championship. UCLA won the central regional title with an 861 total, followed by Purdue (871), Denver (882), TCU (884), A&M (295-302-288=885), Alabama (896), Texas (899) and LSU (902). Failing to advance were Florida State, North Carolina State, Nebraska, Pepperdine, Texas Tech, East Tennessee State, Kent State, Notre Dame, Harvard, Washington, Texas State, Illinois State and Fairleigh Dickinson.
Zwartynski led the Aggies with a three-under 69, which also tied a school record for postseason play. Her 72-75-69=216 total was good for seventh place, the highest finish by an A&M freshman in NCAA regional competition.
"We really were not even thinking about our position," Zwartynski said. "We didn't want to focus on our score so much as just the next shot. I never really felt any pressure today. The birdie putt on 18 kind of put on an exclamation point on our day. Everybody was cheering and it felt awesome."
Zwartynski was not the only hero for the Aggies. Sophomore Ashley Freeman shot a career-best one-under 71, a remarkable 13-stroke improvement over her 84 on Friday. Freeman credited the turnaround to a long conversation she had with McCombs after Friday's round.
"She put things in perspective for me and I went out today and just played golf," Freeman said. "I stayed within myself and had a lot of fun out there. We knew we had to maintain our focus and have a good round. Everybody on the team did a great job."
"Ashley has been frustrated about not putting up the numbers that she knows she can put up," McCombs said. "The light seemed to come on for her. I started to feel pretty good about where we stood as a team when we made the turn, but when she birdied No. 10 I felt like I could finally take a breath."
Sophomore Danielle McVeigh also had strong perfomance with an even-par 72 that included three birdies on the back nine. Junior Lauren Johnson shot a 76 and senior Miranda Orr had a 77.
Zwartynski bounced back from a bogey on the first hole to make the turn in even-par. She then posted birdies on the 11th, 13th and 18th.
"Sarah has come through in the clutch for us so many times this year," McCombs said. "She came in as a good player last fall and has become a great player. She'll be fun to watch for the next three years."
McVeigh (71-78-72=221) placed 18th in the individual standings while Johnson (75-78-76=229) tied for 47th, Orr (83-71-77=231) tied for 60th and Freeman (77-84-71=232) tied for 63rd.
UCLA's Maria Jose Uribe (65-73-70=208) and Purdue's Maria Hernandez (66-73-69=208) tied for individual honors.