Feb. 28, 2011
Three Texas A&M women's golfers turned in par or better rounds on Monday to propel the Aggies from a tie for 11th to fourth place in the team standings at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate at the English Turn Golf & Country Club.
As a team, the Aggies carded the low round of the tournament so far with a 2-under par 286 to move to 12-over for the tournament, and now trail only top-ranked Alabama (+6), No. 2 USC and No. 15 Tulane in the team standings. The Aggies' four scorers were 5-over on the front nine, but caught fire on the back with a whopping 14 birdies against seven bogeys to get to 2-under as a team.
Fourth-year Aggie head coach Trelle McCombs said, "We had a team meeting last night and we talked about what it means to play for the team. What does that truly mean? We gave them permission to get upset if they hit a bad shot, but they had to get over it and think about what their teammates would want them to do. That was the plan all day, and then they got hot on the back nine and it was like it was contagious. It was a lot of fun to watch."
The 2-under par round tied for the fourth-lowest round in school history, and is the 11th sub-par round ever by the Aggies with seven of those coming since McCombs became the A&M head coach in 2007.
The three Aggies firing rounds of par or better were senior Sarah Zwartynski, freshman Katerina Ruzickova and mid-term transfer Susy Grunden. The story of the day was Grunden, who joined the Aggies in January after transferring from Bowling Green. Grunden, from Krum, Texas, strung together an amazing six birdies in a row on her back nine and finished the day with a 5-under 67, which was the second-lowest round of the day.
"When you have a good mental game, good stuff will happen," said Grunden via text message. "After the making the turn at 1-over, I just told myself to be patient and trust my routine. On 10, I chipped in, birdied 11, chipped in again on 12; after three birdies I told myself to stick to my plan of going for the middle of the green. Even after the sixth birdie, I stuck to my plan and it paid off for me."
The round by Grunden, who was BG's scoring leader last year and won the 2010 Zippy Invitational, tied for the fourth-lowest round in school history, and pushed her from a tie for 24th into third place at 3-under (74-67=141) on the individual leaderboard. She trails No. 24 Stephanie Meadow of Alabama (-6) and top-ranked Megan McChrystal of LSU (-5).
"I'm so pumped for Susy," McCombs said. "She has worked so hard for this moment. She deserves all the credit. That's what I've said all along - hard work is something that no one can take away from you."
Ruzickova was also under par with a 1-under 71, and is tied for 10th at even par for the tournament, while Zwartynski was even-par in the second round and stands tied for 19th at 3-over (75-72=147). Also scoring for the Aggie was freshman Natalie Reeves, who contributed a 4-over 76 and is in 86th place at 16-over (84-76=160). Freshman Chelsea Mocio shot a 9-over 81 and is 17-over for the tournament. Playing as an individual, sophomore Chloe Garner posted an 81 and is in 92nd place.
The Aggies will begin teeing off at 8:15 in a shotgun start, and will be teamed with No. 5 Duke and No. 8 Virginia.