Feb. 22, 2011
The Texas A&M women's golf team started the spring portion of its 2010-11 schedule with a solid third place finish at the Central District Invitational on Tuesday at the River Wilderness Golf Club in Parrish, Fla.
The Aggies were third behind No. 16 Iowa State and No. 4 LSU, and logged head-to-head wins over seven teams ranked ahead of them in the Golfstat team rankings.
Led by top 10 Aggie finishers Katerina Ruzickova and Sarah Zwartynski, the Aggies fired a 9-over 297 in the final round and were 17-over for the tournament. Iowa State went low in the final round with a 5-under par 283 and finished the tournament at 4-over, while LSU was 6-over for the day and 13-over for the tournament.
"I am so proud of these girls," Aggie head coach Trelle McCombs said. "They stayed right there in it until the end, but Iowa State just made a bunch birdies and we couldn't help that. We took care of what we could control and that's all we were focused on doing."
The youthful Aggies were within six shots of the lead midway through the final round with three freshmen, one sophomore and just one senior in the lineup.
"Having such a young team get into contention this early in the season just builds their confidence and gives them momentum," McCombs said. "It was very encouraging to see the improvement we've made since the fall season. I know the girls have been working very hard."
Ruzickova, a freshman from Ostrava, Czech Republic, was the low Aggie finisher at a tie for fifth after posting a final round 2-over 74 and finishing 1-over (69-74-74=217) for the tournament. Also carding a final round 74 was Zwartynski, a senior from Allen, Texas, who finished tied for seventh at 2-over (71-73-74=218).
Zwartynski's strong play was crucial for the Aggies as was her leadership during the team's pre-tournament practice round at River Wilderness. Zwartynski was the only Aggie that had played the course previously and she guided the team through the round.
"Sarah did such a great job this week with the team," McCombs said. "She guided the team through where to hit it and what their strategy should be. I'm very proud of her, and this team needed that."
Shooting the Aggies' low round of the day was freshman Sarah Beth Davis contributed a 4-over 76 and finished tied for 25th at 9-over (77-72-76=225). Freshman Natalie Reeves shot a 79 and finished in a tie for 35th at 11-over (73-75-79=227).
The Aggies get right back to competition at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Classic Feb. 27-March 1 at the English Turn Golf Club in New Orleans, La.
"We are looking forward to next week in New Orleans and taking this momentum with us," McCombs said.