New Mexico Lobos Women’s Golf — The Farms Invitational
Where: The Farms Golf Club (Par 72, 6,270 yards) – Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
The Field (Golfstat rankings in parenthesis): [1] Oklahoma State (13) [2] Tennessee (15) [3] UNLV (18) [4] Pepperdine (19) [5] Arizona State (22) [6] San Diego State (24) [7] California (36) [8] Colorado (40) [9] Houston (49) [10] Kansas (52) [11] Long Beach State (65) [12] Boise State (73) [13] Michigan (80) [14] Nevada (104) [15] New Mexico (122) [16] UC Irvine (146)
Lobos: Alexandra Moisand, Manon Molle’, Eva Saulnier, Ingrid Gutierrez, Katerina Jaeger.
Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. – The New Mexico Lobos ran into Tennessee, the No 15 team in the nation – took some lumps – but Lobo Coach Jill Trujillo said the experience of playing a Top 20 team should only make her young Lobos better.
“It’s kind of like a boxer who gets knocked down to the canvas,” said Trujillo. “You get back up. We will be back tomorrow (Tuesday) to do it again.”
The Farms Invitational sponsored by San Diego State is a match-play format. The Lobos lost all five matches on Monday and will play Kansas in Tuesday’s morning matches. Kansas lost 3-2 to California. The 16 teams will play two matches on Tuesday and finish on Wednesday with a single match.
UNM’s Ingrid Gutierrez lost 2-1, Eva Saulnier lost 4-3, Alexandra Moisand lost 7-6 and Katerina Jaeger and Manon Molle’ both lost 3-2.
“With a young team, match play can be tough on you mentally,” said Trujillo. “And we were playing against some very good golfers. I was really proud of the fight in Katerina Jaeger. She was playing against a great golfer in Hannah Pietila and really hung in there tough.
“Anything we can to to improve our mental toughness is going to help our team in the long run.”
The collegiate tournaments usually are stroke play. You play 18 holes and that is your score on the day. The best four scores on a five-person team make up the team total for the day.
In match play, you are in a head-to-head battle with another golfer. You basically get a point for every hole you win. If you both shoot the same score on a hole, there is no point awarded. If you have won five holes and there are only four left, you win the match 5-4 (up five with four to go). If you are up two holes with one hole to play, you win 2-1. If you are tied going into No 18 and you win that hole, you win 1-up.
The matches obviously can go into extra holes and the first golfer to win a hole wins the match.
The Farms Invitational is going to this format as kind of a peek at the NCAA Championships. The NCAA women this year are moving to the same format as the men. You start off in a stroke-play format and the top eight teams advance to play match play.
The field for The Farms Invitational includes San Diego St., Arizona St., Tennessee, Pepperdine, Colorado, Kansas, Houston, Long Beach St., Boise St., Michigan, Nevada, Cal, Oklahoma St., UC Irvine and UNLV.