MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Texas A&M women’s golf team shot a 4-over 580 and is tied for sixth place after the first two rounds of the Moon Golf Invitational Monday.
“Obviously, we saw some great play today, and we know we can certainly make a move up the leaderboard tomorrow,” said Texas A&M head coach Andrea Gaston. “We saw some 10-11 shot swings by a few teams today, and there’s no reason our Aggie women can’t do the same thing tomorrow. We need a strong start, and if we can come out of the gate with some early birdies, that can give us the momentum to have a great finish.”
Texas A&M shot a 1-under 287 in the first round, marking the Aggies’ first under-par round since Sept. 30. After a second-round 294 on the par 72 / 6,262-yard Duran Golf Club, Texas A&M is 11 strokes behind tournament co-leaders Louisville and UCF at 7-under par.
“Both rounds we started on a difficult stretch of holes playing into the wind,” said Gaston. “However, we got off to a much better start this morning, and took advantage of birdieing holes that we needed to make birdies. In round two, we just didn’t get off to the start we needed, and it seemed we had to make up for some mistakes to keep ourselves in it.”
Sophomore Amber Park led the Aggies individually, shooting a 1-over 145 that included a first-round 70. Park is tied for 26th place, as Louisville’s Lauren Hartlage and Oklahoma’s Libby Winans co-lead the tournament at 8-under par.
Freshman Katie Finley, who has shot par-or-better in three of her eight career rounds, had the Aggies’ best round of the day, writing a 3-under 69 on her second-round scorecard.
“It was a long day of mental battles,” said Finley, who is tied for 47th at 4-over par. “I just had to convince myself to keep pushing and things would get better. It was a great experience and a lot of fun.”
Junior Courtney Dow shot a 3-over 147 over the first 36 holes, and is tied for 39th. Freshman Brooke Tyree and sophomore Ava Schwienteck both are tied for 54th at 5-over par, but carded par-or-better scores in the opening round. Tyree had four birdies as a part of a 2-under 70 in the first round, matching her career-best. Schwienteck turned in an even-par 72 in the first round.
“My ball striking really carried my round, but unfortunately I missed some key putts in the second round,” said Schwienteck. “Overall, I was pleased and am ready to go again tomorrow.”
Sophomore Elizabeth Caldarelli, shot a 3-over 147 to tie for 40th, but ranks second among the nine players competing as an individual.
The final round of the 54-hole event tees off Tuesday in a shotgun format. Live scoring is available on golfstat.com.