April 4, 2009
TEMPE, Ariz. - Senior Lauren Johnson carded an even-par 72 on Saturday as Texas A&M climbed four spots to 13th place after the second round of the PING/Arizona State Invitational at the Karsten Golf Course. The final round is Sunday.
The Aggies were just 9-over through 14 holes, but played the final four holes in 9-over. A&M played the final three holes in 13-over in Friday's opening round.
"We're just not finishing strong and that's the difference for us right now," A&M Coach Trelle McCombs said. "If we stay focused through those last few holes, then we're easily in the top 10. I like what we are doing overall; we just need to put all 18 holes together and we can do that on this golf course."
No. 2-ranked Arizona State (585) leads No. 12 Purdue (590) by five shots going into the final round. No. 5 Oklahoma State (592) is in third, followed by No. 4 Southern California (593), No. 1 UCLA (597), New Mexico (601), Arizona (602), No. 14 Pepperdine (605), No. 20 Denver (607), No. 25 Stanford (610), No. 15 Vanderbilt (613), No. 17 California (615), A&M (311-306=615), Tulsa (618), Oregon (622), Colorado (624) and Central Florida (627).
USC's Lizette Salas leads the individual standings by two strokes with a five-under total of 73-66=139.
A&M sophomore Stephanie Smith (74-81=155) is tied for 47th, junior Ashley Freeman (80-79=159) is tied for 69th and sophomore Alexa Porter (85-80=165) is in 87th.