April 24, 2009
LUBBOCK - Ashley Freeman birdied three of the last four holes for a one-under-par 72 on Friday to help Texas A&M move into second place after the opening round of the Big 12 Women's Golf Championship at the Rawls Course.
The Aggies team score of 12-over-par (304) trails No. 4-ranked Oklahoma State (295) by nine strokes going into Saturday's second round. Live scoring can be followed online at www.golfstat.com.
A&M was 16-over on the windy front nine but was four-under on the back to remain in contention. Four A&M players shot par or better on the final nine.
"Our girls did a fantastic job on the back side," A&M Coach Trelle McCombs said. "It was super windy on the front and we made some unforced errors, but we did a much better job on the back and made a few birdies coming in. We knew the scores would be high today and that we would have to be patient. Our players really believe in themselves and are just taking it one shot at a time."
Oklahoma State's Caroline Hedwall leads the individual standings after a three-under 70. Freeman and Kansas State's Morgan Moon are two shots back and tied for second.
"Ashley has been really fired up last few days and playing with intensity is her game," McCombs said. "She played with a lot of fire in her belly today and was solid all the way through."
A&M's Lauren Johnson carded 78s and are tied for 17th, and Stephanie Smith had an 84 and is tied for 52nd.
Kansas State is in third at (311), followed by Kansas (312), Nebraska (315), Oklahoma (315), Colorado (317), Missouri (317), Texas (321), Baylor (322), Iowa State (325) and Texas Tech (326).
Freeman three-putted for a bogey her 14th hole, then made birdie putts on the next two holes to get back to even par. She closed with a short birdie putt on the par-5 18th to shoot two-under on the back nine.
"The wind was really howling on the front nine and we just tried to be patient," Freeman said. "We realized we would make some bogeys. Everything started to click for us on the back and we feel like we're heading into the second round with some good momentum."
Zwartynski and Porter were one-under on the final nine while Johnson was even.