Following a fifth-place finish at the ICON Invitational, the Texas A&M women’s golf team headed west to Mesa, Ariz., to compete in the Clover Cup at Longbow Golf Club.
In the first of two consecutive tournaments in the state of Arizona for the Aggies, they found plenty of success in the desert when the dust had settled.
No. 19 Texas A&M found itself in fifth place after Round 1 of the Clover Cup at 2-over par. The Aggies performed slightly better in Round 2 as they moved into fourth place at 1-over par. A&M had the course figured out by Sunday’s Round 3 action, as it collectively shot 14-under par to place second for the tournament at 13-under par.
Junior Jennie Park started strong in Round 1 in Arizona with a 4-under-par 68 stroke performance. She played the first 18 holes bogey-free, which put her in third after Friday’s action.
“Jennie [Park] is in total control of her game,” A&M coach Gerrod Chadwell told 12thman.com. “She was locked in yesterday in the practice round and is picking up where she left off in Houston at the ICON. I expect good things for her the rest of the week.”
Chadwell’s expectations proved right as it was more of the same in Day 2 for Park as she shot a 3-under-par 69 highlighted by five birdies — four of which came in the last 11 holes of the round. She was tied for second with freshman Sera Hasegawa of East Tennessee State at 7-under par through Saturday.
Park’s game finally cooled off in the final round of play as she fired a 1-under-par 71 to finish at 8-under par for the tournament. Her cumulative score for the weekend was 208, which placed her in a tie for second with Hasegawa and freshman Caitlyn Macnab of TCU.
Junior Blanca Fernandez Garcia-Poggio had a roller coaster Round 1 that ended with a 1-over-par 73. Graduate Amber Park was even-par for most of the day, but a bogey, birdie, bogey finish pushed her to a first round 1-over-par 73 as well.
Freshman Adela Cernousek started the day with back-to-back birdies, but was 6-over par for the final 16 holes en route to a 4-over-par 76 in Round 1. Sophomore Zoe Slaughter failed to record a birdie on Day 1, but she limited the damage by shooting par on 15 holes for a 4-over-par 76.
Cernousek shot a 1-under-par 71 in Round 2 action, and it was a busy scorecard as she only made par on five holes. An eagle on the par-5 ninth hole was the exclamation point for a round in which she improved her play from Day 1 to Day 2 by five strokes.
Fernandez Garcia-Poggio shot 1-over par on the front nine and the back nine for a 2-over-par 74, Amber Park birdied two of her last three holes to salvage a 3-over-par 75 and Slaughter had another anticlimactic round of golf as she made par on 14 holes en route to a 1-over-par 73.
Fernandez Garcia-Poggio put together an epic Round 3 performance as she carded nine birdies on her way to an 8-under-par 64 that propelled her up 25 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for sixth with three other golfers with a 5-under-par 211. Slaughter racked up six birdies on Sunday for a 4-under-par 68, leaving her in a tie for 23rd with a 1-over-par 217. These two Day 3 performances were key in what was a historic day for A&M women’s golf.
“Breaking the program record and setting all of those marks is so encouraging to what we are doing,” Chadwell told 12thman.com following Sunday’s play. “When stuff like this happens, you’re just so happy for the girls.”
Cernousek’s final round had ups-and-downs that ultimately resulted in a 1-under-par 71, placing her in a tie for 25th with a 2-over-par 218. Amber Park capped off a struggle-filled weekend with another 3-over-par 75 to finish in a tie for 42nd with a 7-over-par 223.
Clemson turned in an outstanding 12-under-par Round 3 performance to win the Clover Cup at 18-under par — five strokes better than runner-up A&M and 10 strokes better than 36-hole leader LSU, which placed third.
Junior Ingrid Lindblad of LSU slept on the lead the entire weekend and placed first on the player leaderboard with a 65-70-68 13-under-par 203 for the tournament.
A&M will stay in the Grand Canyon State as they head to Tucson, Ariz., from March 18-20 to compete at the Preserve at SaddleBrooke Golf Course in the Mountain View Collegiate.