Baylor ran its tournament win streak to a Big 12 record five straight and solidified its grip on the No. 1 ranking by Golfstat with a five-shot victory over LSU in the ICON Invitational, which wrapped up Tuesday at the Golf Club of Houston in Humble, Texas
Pretty remarkable that the weather situation had recovered enough that the same Houston area that was hit with freezing temperatures and rolling blackouts just last week was able to recover sufficiently to be the scene of a big-time college women’s golf tournament, but that’s what happened.
And Jay Gable’s kids from Waco, who, I’m guessing, were limited to indoor golf simulators last week, didn’t skip a beat. The Bears were a little slow out of the gate with a 2-under 286 over the 6,247-yard, par-72 Golf Club of Houston layout in the first round of Monday’s double round, but they quickly recovered to fire a 10-under 278 in Monday afternoon’s second round to catch No. 4 LSU, out of the Southeastern Conference, heading into Tuesday’s final round.
Baylor put the pedal to the metal with the best team round of the tournament, a 12-under 276, in Tuesday’s final round to keep the Bayou Tigers at arm’s length with a 24-under 840 total. LSU had led Baylor by three shots after opening with a 5-under 283 Monday morning before adding a 7-under 281 Monday afternoon to share the top spot with the Bears at 12-under 564 at the end of the double round.
LSU closed with another solid 7-under 281 in Tuesday’s final round, but it wasn’t enough as the Bayou Tigers finished with a 19-under 845 total.
No. 9 Oklahoma State was another nine shots behind LSU in third place with a 10-under 854 total, but the Cowgirls would have been closer to the top of the leaderboard if head coach Greg Robertson had inserted freshman Rina Tatematsu of Thailand into the starting lineup instead of having her compete as an individual.
Robertson is in his second season as head coach at his alma mater after turning Kent State into a perennial national power. Robertson tapped into a Thailand pipeline that brought a parade of talented players to Kent State to lure Tatematsu to Stillwater, Okla. And the ICON Invitational was a coming-out party for Tatematsu, who has competed in a number of pro events on various Asian circuits.
After opening with a 2-under 70, Tatematsu ripped off a pair of brilliant 6-under 66s to capture the individual title by three shots over host Houston’s Karen Fredgaard, a sophomore from Denmark, with a 14-under 202 total.
Tatematsu had six birdies and no bogeys in Monday afternoon’s second round and seven birdies against a lone bogey in Tuesday’s final round. Tied with Fredgaard and LSU’s Ingrid Linblad, a sophomore from Sweden and No. 4 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) going into the final round, Tatematsu, who started her round on the 18th hole, made back-to-back birdies at the first and second holes, went back-to-back again at five and six, birdied the 12th, bogeyed the 13th and went back-to-back one more time at 14 and 15.
Robertson was able to bring Tatematsu along slowly as the Cowgirls played a fall schedule that was limited to largely individual-only events. I suspect Tatematsu’s name will be penciled into the Oklahoma State starting lineup after this bustout performance.
It was a pretty strong showing for the starting five for Oklahoma State in the ICON, though. The Cowgirls matched LSU’s strong start with a 5-under 283 in Monday morning’s opening round and added a 1-under 287 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 4-under 284.
No. 19 Texas Christian, another Big 12 entry, finished seven shots behind Oklahoma State in fourth place with a 3-under 861 total. After opening with a 3-under 285, the Horned Frogs matched par in each of the final two rounds with a pair of 288s.
Perennial Big Ten power Northwestern, ranked 17th, was three more shots behind TCU in fifth place as the Wildcats matched par with an 864 total. Northwestern matched par in Monday morning’s opening round with a 288 and added a 2-over 290 in Monday afternoon’s second round before finishing up with a 2-under 286.
No. 26 North Texas was a shot behind Northwestern in sixth place at 1-over 865. The Mean Green opened with a 2-over 290 and added a 7-over 295 before finishing fast with an 8-under 280.
Host Houston, behind Fredgaard’s individual runnerup finish, was two shots behind North Texas in seventh place in the 13-team field with a 3-over 867 total. The 21st-ranked Cougars posted a pair of solid 2-under 286s in Monday’s double round before closing with a 7-over 295.
But everybody in Division I women’s college golf is looking up at Baylor right now. And the scary part is how young and balanced the Bears are.
They were led to the ICON Invitational by Britta Snyder, a freshman from Ames, Iowa who finished a shot behind Fredgaard in third place in the individual chase at 10-under 206. After opening with a 1-over 73, Snyder fired a sparkling 7-under 65 before closing with a 4-under 68.
Backing up Snyder was another freshman, Rosie Belsham of England, who finished in a tie for fifth place at 8-under 208. Belsham followed up an opening-round 70 with a pair of 3-under 69s. Gurleen Kaur, Baylor’s veteran junior playing not far from her Houston home, contributed a 2-under 70 to the Bears’ strong final round as she landed in the group tied for 16th place at 1-under 215. Kaur had opened with a 1-under 71 before adding a 2-over 74 in Monday afternoon’s second round.
Elodie Chapelet, a senior from France, gave Baylor four players inside the top 20 as she finished up with a solid 3-under 69 to join the group tied for 19th place at even-par 216.
Rounding out the Baylor lineup was yet another freshman, Hannah Karg of Germany, who, after struggling to a 77 in Monday’s opening round carded a pair of steady 2-under 70s to end up among the group tied for 26th place at 1-over 217. When Baylor won the Trinity Forest Invitational earlier this month at the Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas, Karg was the individual champion. It just shows how little dropoff there is one through five for Baylor right now.
It was a solid showing for Fredgaard over the Golf Club of Houston layout as she opened with a 5-under 67 and added a 3-under 69 in Monday afternoon’s second round to share the 36-hole lead with Tatematsu. Fredgaard finished up with another 3-under 69 for an 11-under 205 total that left her three shots behind Tatematsu in second place.
Northwestern’s Irene Kim, a sophomore from La Palma, Calif., finished alone in fourth place, a shot behind Baylor’s Snyder at 9-under 207. Kim added 69 to her opening round of 4-under 68 before closing with a 2-under 70.
Joining Baylor’s Belsham in a tie for fifth place at 8-under 208 was LSU’s Latanna Stone, a sophomore from Riverview, Fla. who finished up with best individual round of the tournament, a sizzling 8-under 64. Stone had struggled to a 75 in the opening round before righting the ship with a 3-under 69 in Monday afternoon’s second round.
Stone’s LSU teammate, Linblad, the sophomore Swede, finished a shot behind Belsham and Stone in seventh place at 7-under 209. Linblad’s 7-under 65 paced the field in Monday morning’s opening round. A 1-under 71 in Monday afternoon’s second round left her tied atop the individual leaderboard with Tatematsu and Fredgaard before she stumbled a little in the final round with a 1-over 73.
Oklahoma State’s Isabella Fierro, a sophomore from Mexico, was a shot behind Linblad with a 6-under 210 total. Fierro was just 16 in the summer of 2017 when she won the North & South Women’s Amateur Championship at the Pinehurst Resort’s iconic No. 2 Course and reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club before falling to eventual champion Sophia Schubert, a former Texas standout.
Fierro was strong in Monday’s double round, opening with a 70 and adding a 4-under 68 that had her in contention for the individual title. She matched par with a 72 in Tuesday’s final round.
Brooke Riley, a graduate student from Manteca, Calif., gave Northwestern a second finisher in the top 10 as she closed with a 3-under 69 to finish alone in ninth place, a shot behind Fierro at 5-under 211. Riley opened with a 2-under 70 and matched par with a 72 in Monday afternoon’s second round.
Carla Tejedo Mulet, a freshman from Spain, gave LSU a third finisher in the top 10 as she landed in a tie for 10th place with North Texas’ Audrey Tan, a junior from Malaysia, at 4-under 212. Tejedo Mulet opened with a 3-under 69 and added a 1-under 71 before matching par in the final round with a 72. Tan added a pair of 1-under 71s to her opening-round 70.
Baylor and the rest of the Big 12 teams will always cast a wary eye on Texas. The Longhorns, who have won the last three contested Big 12 Championships in 2017, 2018 and 2019, struggled to a 10th-place finish in the ICON with a 10-over 874 total.
Texas was playing without its best player, Austin home girl Kaitlyn Papp, who had a pretty fair portion of the state’s rabid golf fandom rooting for her as she contended deep into the rare December U.S. Women’s Open at Houston’s Champions Golf Club before settling for a tie for ninth place and low-amateur honors.
Not sure why Papp, No. 8 in the Women’s WAGR, didn’t play, but, trust me, nobody in the Big 12 is sleeping on the Longhorns.
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