May 22, 2008
The last time Texas A&M was in contention going into the final round at the NCAA Women's Golf Championship, Coach Trelle McCombs was just six years old and no current player had even been born.
After a wild Thursday at the University of New Mexico's Championship Golf Course, the Aggies were in sixth place at 29-over-par when third-round play was halted because of darkness. The round will be completed early Friday followed by the final 18 holes.
"We need come come out tomorrow and finish strong on our last couple of holes," McCombs said. "We've got a chance to be in the final threesome in the last round, which is where everybody in the country wants to be."
The Aggies finished fifth at the inaugural NCAA Championship in 1982, the best in school history.
The Aggies trail co-leaders Southern California and UCLA (+16) by 13 strokes. Denver, Arkansas and Arizona State are tied for third, just one shot ahead of A&M.
Other team scores are Florida (+33), Duke (+34), Georgia (+39), Wake Forest (+39), Purdue (+41), Oklahoma State (+49), Alabama (+49), Auburn (+50), Virginia (+50), UNLV (+51), TCU (+56), Tulsa (+60), Texas (+62), LSU (+63), Arizona (+66), South Carolina (+68) UC Davis (+68) and Furman (+76).
A&M sophomore Ashley Freeman is in fifth place at one-over, just three shots behind individual leader Azahara Munoz of Arizona State (69-72-73=214). The highest finish in A&M history was seventh by Shirley Furlong in 1982.
The second round, which had been postponed because of high winds on Wednesday, was completed early Thursday morning. The start of the third round was delayed twice because of lightning. Just 15 minutes after play finally began, the players were removed from the course for an additional hour as a thunderstorm passed through.
"It was a very long day," McCombs said. "But the best thing to come out of it was that our attitude was fantastic all day long. I heard a lot of teams complaining but I never heard any of that out of our players. That attitude speaks volumes about our players and was reflected in their play."
Freeman led the Aggies to a score of 299 in the second round with an even-par 72 that included four birdies and four bogeys.
A&M freshman Sarah Zwartynski is tied for 13th (+6) and sophomore Danielle McVeigh is tied for 15th (+7). Two Aggies managed to finish their third rounds -- junior Lauren Johnson is tied for 112th (79-86-77=242) and senior Miranda Orr is tied for 115th (85-75-83=243).