The Texas A&M women’s golf team teed off at the par 72, 6,466-yard Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas for the Jackson T. Stephens Cup on Oct. 9-11.
The tournament consisted of 36 holes on Day 1, followed by 18 holes of stroke play on Day 2 to determine match play pairings for the final day. The field was competitive and consisted of top-tier talent from five of the Top 10 teams in the country — No. 1 Arkansas, No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Wake Forest, No. 5 A&M and No. 6 South Carolina.
Day 1 on the course was cut short due to darkness for all teams except Texas. The Longhorns shot 16-under after two rounds and led by three strokes. Freshman Lauren Kim shot her best collegiate round in the second round with a score of 5-under 67. Kim tied for second at 7-under after 36 holes.
A&M had just found its rhythm when its round was cut short with eight holes remaining. The Aggies shot 3-under 285 on the first 18 and seemed to find their groove in the second round. They made up seven strokes and brought their score to 10-under halfway through the second 18.
Junior Adela Cernousek quickly vaulted to the top of the individual leaderboard and remained untouched. Cernousek finished Day 1 at 9-under with a two-stroke lead.
“Adela was in total control of her game,” coach Gerrod Chadwell said. “She has looked really good, and I am happy for her. We are going to need more great play tomorrow in order to compete for the title on Wednesday.”
Wake Forest returned for revenge after its devastating loss in match play against Stanford at the 2022 Stephens Cup. Both teams ended tied for second at 13-under after 34 holes.
Day 2 was a fight for the top between Texas and Wake Forest with Stanford on their trail. The Longhorns shot their sixth-best 54-hole tournament score in program history at 23-under and tied for first with the Deacon Demons.
Cernousek had an incredible third round with a 25-plus foot eagle putt that placed her in the lead at 11-under.
Kim birdied 17 and 18 which forced a playoff for the individual title with Cernousek. They played three playoff holes until play was postponed to Day 3 because of darkness.
Day 3 began with sudden death for the individual title. Cernousek and Kim went into a fourth playoff hole, where Kim came out victorious with a par.
Match play for the championship title consisted of Texas and Wake Forest for the title and Stanford versus South Carolina for third place.
The Cardinal swept the third-place match against the Gamecocks, 4-1.
Senior Bentley Cotton secured the first point for the Longhorns over Deacon Demon senior Mimi Rhodes and put Texas on the board tied 1-1 with Wake Forest.
Texas sophomore Huai-Chien Hsu won 4&3 and brought the Longhorns to 2-1 over the Deacon Demons. Wake Forest had a good lead over Texas with junior Carolina Lopez-Chacarra and freshman Macy Pate strokes ahead of their opponents going into the final holes.
Lopez-Chacarra won 3&1 over Kim and tied up the overall score 2-2, leaving it up to Pate and freshman Farah O’Keefe to determine the victor.
Pate defeated O’Keefe 4&2 and secured the winning point for Wake Forest.
The Maroon and White tee off next at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Georgia for the East Lake Cup on Oct. 30 through Nov. 1.