BRYAN, Texas- Freshman Maddie Szyerk matched the Texas A&M school record, firing a 65 (-7), including a hole-in-one on the 16th hole, to launch herself to a tie at the top of the leaderboard on Tuesday, the second day of the “Mo”Morial at Traditions Club. The Aggies moved into a tie for second place in the tournament behind a tournament-record 284 (-4).
“I think everything was working for me today. I hit the ball really solid and gave myself a lot of chances to make birdies, and I did,” said Szeryk. “It's pretty awesome [to have tied the school record]. I'm pretty honored and humbled to have shot that today.”
Szeryk, playing in her second collegiate round, played the final four holes at five-under-par, posting three birdies and an ace using her seven-iron on No. 16. The Allen native made only made one bogey, on the first hole, before finishing with 17 straight holes of par-or-better golf.
“I hit it pretty solid, and it looked good, but I couldn't see it over the ridge, then everyone started screaming,” said Szeryk on her hole-in-one. “It was pretty exciting, it was my third [lifetime] hole-in-one.”
Szeryk's 65 matches the school record set twice previously; Julia Boland fired a seven-under 65 at the UCF Challenge in March 2010 and Ashley Knoll fired a seven-under 65 in October 2005. Szeryk is the first A&M freshman to shoot 65, and the first to shoot a competitive 65 in Aggieland. Szeryk smashed the “Mo”Morial tournament record, which was previously 68 set by Victoria Trapani of Auburn in 2011.
Szeryk sits at 141 (-3) for the tournament, and leads the competition along with Florida State's Kayla Jones.
While Szyerk's exceptional play highlighted the Aggies' day, A&M shot up from tied for sixth to tied for second on the leaderboard thanks to excellent team play by several in Maroon and White, who posted a team score of 284 (-4). Callie Scheffler shot an even-par 72 to move into a tie for 13th on the leaderboard (+4 for the tournament), while Bianca Fabrizio posted a 73 (+1) to move into a tie for 11th (+3 for the tournament)
Andrea Jonama had a strong day after double-bogeying the first hole, playing even-par golf the rest of the day to post a 74 (+2). She is currently tied for 22nd after two days with 151 (+7).
“It was definitely a full team effort today,” said Texas A&M head coach Trelle McCombs. “When you have someone who shoots 65, it's obviously fun to watch. Callie Scheffler battled back from three-over after five holes to finish at even-par—that's big of her to step up and do that. Bianca Fabrizio followed up a good performance yesterday with another good round today—she's doing great. Andrea played even par after doubling the first hole—it definitely was a complete team effort and was fun to watch.”
Thanya Pattamakijsakul shot 79 (+7), Emily Fuchs and Ashley Malinchak both shot 85 (+13) and Kirby Kramer shot 90 (+18) to round out A&M's competitors for the day.
The "Mo"Morial concludes Wednesday with the final round at Traditions Club.