Recap: Women’s golf finishes in tenth place after their first day at ICON Invitational
Day 1
After a nearly four-month layoff since their last official tournament in the fall, women’s golf got back in action on Monday in Houston with Day 1 of the ICON Invitational. The Mean Green finished the first two rounds at No. 10 out of 13 teams after posting rounds of 290 and 295 on the day.
The ICON’s 13-team field consists of 12 teams currently ranked in the top 50 by Golfstat, headlined by No. 1 Baylor University, No. 3 Louisiana State University and No. 6 Oklahoma State University. The only team in the field not ranked in the top 50 is Southern Methodist University (No. 62).
“We did not play bad today but when you play against top 25 teams you cannot make mistakes,” Head coach Michael Akers said. “We are in position to move up the leaderboard and hope to break par tomorrow. […] We just need to be consistent [throughout] the lineup.”
After competing in three tournaments in the fall, North Texas reached its highest national ranking in program history, rising to No. 21 in the last official Golfstat rankings of the fall. With the first official poll of the spring, the Mean Green fell several spots to No. 36 nationally, but are still ranked higher than the previous program record of No. 50 set in 2010-11.
Leading the way for the Mean Green on Day 1 was junior Audrey Tan who finished the day at 3-under-par and tied for No. 10 individually after carding rounds of 70 and 71. Tan was the only North Texas golfer to shoot under par for the day
“I am very proud of Audrey,” Akers said. “She changed her ball and driver a few weeks ago, which is not easy to do.”
Next up for North Texas was senior Lauren Cox who carded rounds of 71 and 74 en route to finishing the day tied for No. 24 at 1-over-par.
Junior Katie Finley was the team’s third-best finisher, ending the day at four-over and tied for No. 46 after posting rounds of 75 and 73.
Junior Patricia Sinolungan and sophomore Emilie Ricaud rounded out the five-team competitors for the Mean Green. Sinolungan finished at +7 and tied for No. 58 after rounds of 74 and 77. Ricaud completed Day 1 tied for No. 62 at 9-over-par after rounds of 75 and 78.
Competing as an individual, sophomore Marija Jucmane carded rounds of 82 and 78 to end the day at +16 and holding No. 76 individually.
Up Next: The Mean Green will play the third and final round of the ICON Invitational on Tuesday, beginning with an 8 a.m. shotgun start. Stay tuned for a full recap of Day 2 after play concludes.
Featured Image: Senior Lauren Cox chips the ball out of the sand during practice on Feb. 1, 2021. Image by Zach Del Bello
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