North Texas Daily

Day 2

On Sunday, North Texas maintained their Day 1 position at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invite, hosted by the University of Texas at Austin, finishing in sixth place out of eight teams. The Mean Green carded their best round of the tournament with a five-under-par 283 in the third round, tying their second-best one-round score in program history.

Junior Katie Finley broke the team’s record for single-round score with a 7-under 65 in round three, which was also tied for the second-best score of the weekend. She finished at even-par for the tournament and tied for No. 16 individually.

Head coach Michael Akers said he was impressed by the way in which Finley set the program record in carding eight birdies and just one bogey on the day.

“[Finley] was just rock solid,” Akers said. “She had eight birdies on the day and one bogey … she nearly birdied half the holes on the course, which is amazing. Really excited to see her break through like that for her best round.”

Senior Lauren Cox was the top finisher overall for the Mean Green, tying for No. 8 after carding a final round 69 to finish at 3-under-par for the tournament. Cox was the only North Texas golfer to finish below par, doing so for the second time this fall after she finished one-under-par at the Schooner Fall Classic.

Akers said Cox had a difficult start to her round on the sixth hole with a double bogey, but she was able to move past it and card her best round of the tournament.

“She had a double-bogey on her first hole, and then came back with five birdies after that,” Akers said. “[Cox and Finley] really delivered a one-two punch and that certainly helped us.”

Sophomore Emilie Ricaud and junior Audrey Tan finished at +10 and +11 and tied for No. 33 and 37, respectively.

Close behind them was junior Patricia Sinolungan who carded her best round of the tournament with a third-round 74 and finished at 15-over-par, good for No. 43.

Competing as an individual, sophomore Marija Jucmane scored a 77 in round 3, her best showing of the tournament, leaving her at +26 and No. 48 for the tourney.

North Texas was the only non-Big 12 team in a tournament field that featured six top-50 squads from last season, including No. 20 Baylor and No. 2 Texas who placed first and second, respectively. North Texas ended last spring ranked No. 51 in the nation, lower than every team in the tournament except Kansas.

Akers said such a level of competition will really benefit his team’s national standing when this season’s first national rankings come out on Oct. 17.

“When you play a tournament schedule like we do, you’re in a no-lose situation,” Akers said. “If you don’t quite beat [these teams], you’re not gonna get hurt in the rankings. All these rankings are interlocked from tournament to tournament, so we’re gonna be in really good shape.”

Akers also said the opportunity to play in the fall will be very beneficial to his team moving forward.

“The fact that we’re able to play this fall and a lot of teams aren’t is also gonna help us when spring comes,” Akers said. “The northern teams aren’t playing this fall and they’re gonna have to deal with snow in the winter, so they’re gonna come out in the spring and not be sharp. They usually try to play a lot in the fall … but they’re not gonna have that opportunity now, so I feel like we’re positioning ourselves very well for the spring.”

Day 1

On Saturday, North Texas finished their first day of play at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invite, hosted by the University of Texas at Austin, tied for sixth place out of eight teams. The Mean Green carded the third-best score of round one at 292, but a second-round score of 304 caused them to drop three slots to a tie with the University of Kansas for No. 6 on the day.

Leading the way for the Mean Green on Day 1 was senior Lauren Cox who finished with rounds of 71 and 73 and tied for No. 13 individually. Cox’s even-par score made her the only golfer on the team to finish the day at or under par.

Sophomore Emilie Ricaud was the next highest finisher for North Texas at No. 29, finishing 5-over-par on the day after rounds of 72 and 77.

Right behind Ricaud were juniors Katie Finley and Audrey Tan, ending the day tied for No. 30 and 33 at +7 and +8, respectively.

Fellow junior Patricia Sinolungan carded rounds of 79 and 78 to finish the day at 13-over-par and tied for No. 42.

Competing as an individual, sophomore Marija Jucmane placed No. 49 at +21 for the day after rounds of 79 and 86.

Head coach Michael Akers said he felt the team was well-positioned after the first round and was unsure what went wrong in round two.

“We had a solid morning round and were in good position,” Akers said. “The afternoon round was rough, however. I’m not quite sure what happened but we cannot dwell on the negative. The ladies put in time after the round and set their sights to break par in the final round.”

Featured Image: Senior Lauren Cox practices putting on Oct. 2, 2020. Image by Zachary Thomas