KANE’OHE, Hawai’i – Texas A&M’s Courtney Dow was the only player to finish at least even-par, earning her first collegiate tournament victory by three strokes at the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational. Texas A&M’s women’s golf team has produced the event’s individual champion in four of the last five seasons.
Dow shot a final-round 74 on the par 72 / 6,096-yard Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course, notching four birdies to finish the tournament at even-par 216. It is her first career tournament victory, after having finished third on two previous occasions.
“I was excited to see my game coming together and translating into low scores,” said Dow. “It was great to be able to feed off the energy from the whole team this week.”
“Knowing I could be confident in my putter allowed me to be aggressive this week,” added Dow. “I’m glad to finally have secured my first collegiate win.”
The Aggies had their best team finish of the season, checking at third place at 32-over par, nine strokes behind tournament co-champions No. 2 Texas and SMU. Texas A&M has posted top-five finishes in its last two tournaments.
“I’m really proud of the way finished,” said head coach Andrea Gaston. “It was nice to see a few red numbers down the stretch, but a couple of bad holes in the middle of the round moved us out of contention.
“I was with Courtney Dow on the back-nine, and was excited to see her have such a strong finish to clinch her first collegiate win,” added Gaston.
Amber Park earned her second top-five finish of the season, tying for fourth at 5-over 221. Despite struggles early Wednesday, Park played her last nine at even par to turn in a final-round 77.
Ava Schwienteck finished in the top 25 for the third time this season, tying for 25th at 13-over. She birdied three consecutive holes on the way to a 3-over 75 Wednesday. Brooke Tyree pared 15 holes and birdied one, shooting a 3-over 75 to tie for 44th at 19-over. Katie Finley tied for 54th at 21-over, shooting a 6-over 78 in the final round.
Chloe Velasco led the three Texas A&M individuals at the event, finishing 18-over and tied for 41st. Elizabeth Caldarelli tied for 50th at 20-over and Ariana Saenz tied for 69th at 33-over.
The Aggies return to action March 22-24 at the Mountain View Collegiate in Tucson, Ariz.