Texas’ Agathe Laisne, a sophomore from France and the No. 48
player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), captured the
individual title and headed a sweep of the top four spots by the Longhorns, No.
2 in the latest Golfstat rankings, as
they rolled to their third straight team crown in the Big 12 Championship,
which wrapped up Tuesday at the Golf Club of Oklahoma in Broken Arrow, Okla.
A loaded Texas team finished a whopping 37 shots ahead of
No. 32 Baylor, the largest margin of victory in the history of the championship,
bettering the old mark by 10 shots.
I’m sure the memory of last year’s individual champion, Iowa
State’s Celia Barquin Arozamena, was never far from the thoughts of the
competitors. Barquin Arozamena was senselessly murdered while playing golf by herself
in Ames, Iowa late last summer as she was preparing for the start of her
professional career.
Laisne had won the European Ladies’ Amateur Championship the
summer before she started at Texas in 2017. Barquin Arozamena was the winner of
that title last summer.
Laisne opened with a 3-under-par 69 over the 6,341-yard,
par-72 Golf Club of Oklahoma layout in relatively benign conditions Sunday.
Then the wind started blowing and the scores started going up.
Laisne’s 2-over 74 matched the low round of the day in
Monday’s second round and gave her a four-shot lead over teammate Sara
Kouskova, a freshman from the Czech Republic, going into the final round.
Laisne finished up with a 3-over 75 Tuesday, but her 2-over
218 total still left her three shots clear of Kouskova and another Texas
teammate Kaitlyn Papp, a sophomore home girl from Austin, Texas and No. 28 in
the Women’s WAGR, both of whom finished tied for second at 5-over 221.
Behind an opening round of 5-under 67 by Kouskova and
Laisne’s 69, Texas grabbed the lead in the team chase with a 1-under 287,
easily the best team round of the tournament. With the wind kicking up, the
Longhorns carded a 9-over 297 in Monday’s second round, but extended their lead
to 22 shots over Baylor.
Texas pulled away with a final round of 5-over 293 for a
13-over 877 total.
Baylor only trailed Texas by five shots after an opening
round of 4-over 292, but the Bears struggled in the wind to a second-round 314.
They finished up with a 308 to claim runnerup honors at 50-over 914.
No. 18 Oklahoma was two shots behind Baylor in third at
52-over 916 as the Sooners sandwiched a 314 in Monday’s second round with a
pair of 13-over 301s.
No. 24 Texas Christian closed with a solid 305 to finish
fourth at 55-over 919, three shots behind Oklahoma. No. 37 Texas Tech had the
second-best team score in Tuesday’s final round, a 12-over 300 to finish a shot
behind TCU in fifth place at 56-over 920.
Kouskova struggled in Monday’s winds, adding an 80 to her
spectacular opening round of 5-under 67, the best individual round of the
tournament. She closed with a 3-over 74 to share second with Papp.
Papp struggled in the opening round with a 4-over 76, but
the tough Texan matched the low score of the day in Monday’s winds with a 74
and closed with a 1-under 71, matching the low round of the day Tuesday, to
catch Kouskova and get a piece of second.
Emilee Hoffman, a junior from Folsom, Calif., completed
Texas’ sweep of the top four spots in the individual standings as she finished
fourth at 7-over 223, two shots behind Kouskova and Papp. Hoffman, who was the
runnerup to Barquin Arozamena a year ago, added a final-round 73 to a pair of
75s.
Rounding out the young Texas lineup was Hailee Cooper, a
freshman from Montgomery, Texas who finished in the group tied for 16th
at 230. Cooper actually matched the low round of the day in Monday’s tough
conditions with a 2-over 74, but sandwiched that round with a pair of 78s.
Cooper and Papp teamed up to win the 2016 U.S. Women’s
Amateur Four-Ball Championship at the Streamsong Resort’s Blue Course in
Florida.
Papp came into the Big 12 Championship off a strong showing
in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship. She was tied
for third after the first two rounds at the Champions Retreat Golf Club and her
2-over 74 in her first competitive round at Augusta National left her tied for
fifth at 1-under 215.
Papp was accompanied to Augusta by Laisne and Hoffman.
Laisne survived a playoff to make it to the final round at Augusta National.
Her 7-over 79 at Augusta National left her in 29th place at 10-over
226. Hoffman came up just short of advancing to the final round as she was tied
for 37th with a 150 for two rounds at Champions Retreat.
Baylor’s Diane Bailieux, a sophomore from Belgium, finished
a shot behind Texas’ Hoffman in fifth place at 8-over 224, closing with a
2-over 74.
Oklahoma’s Libby Winans, a freshman from Richardson, Texas,
finished alone in sixth place at 9-over 225 after closing with a 4-over 76. Texas
Tech’s Sofia Garcia, a sophomore from Paraguay and No. 40 in the Women’s WAGR,
was another shot behind Winans in seventh place at 10-over 226 after finishing
up with a solid 1-over 73.
Four players – TCU’s Sabrina Iqbal, a freshman from San
Jose, Calif., Kansas State’s Chloe Weir, a senior from Northern Ireland,
Oklahoma State’s Michelle Forsland, a junior from Norway, and Kansas’ Yi-Tsen Chou,
a junior from Taiwan – finished in a tie for eighth place at 11-over 277.
Iqbal moved up the leaderboard by finishing up with a 1-over
73. Forsland finished up with a 76, Weir had a final-round 77 and Chou closed
with a 78.
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