The Field – Houston, Kansas State, Kent State, Miami, New Mexico, North Florida, Oklahoma, SMU, Texas, Texas State, Texas Tech, Tulsa, UNLV, and UTSA.
The Lobos – Manon Molle’, Sol Lee, Darian Zachek, Ingrid Gutierrez, and Alexandra Moisand.
Austin, TX – After a month long break from competition, the Lobos head to the University of Texas for the 42nd annual Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational. The Lobos are ready to get back in the saddle after a strong third place finish at the Lady Paladin Invitational in September.
“The break allowed us to work out some swing issues and get some injuries healed,” Lobo head coach Jill Trujillo explained. “Typically we don’t take this long of a break so we will see how it goes coming back into it, but we had a really good qualifier and everyone focused very well. They are itching to play.”
The 54 hole event will host a field of 14 teams, including the 8th ranked team in the nation, Kent State. Also in the field, fellow Mountain West team UNLV was recently ranked 21st in the country with Houston trailing close behind in at 23rd. The New Mexico Lobos also cracked the top-25 Golfstat rankings and are currently ranked 22nd in the nation.
“That’s a really good start for us,” Trujillo smiled. “I’m very excited to see how we can fair on the UT golf club course again. It’s not an easy course. They get the greens rolling really fast and pure so it’s a challenge.”
The weather is another element which never fails to make this event more interesting. During this time of year, Austin is typically rainy with potentially hurricane force winds, but as the Lobos showed at the Paladin, a little wind is not enough to throw them off their game.
“We usually fair pretty well when there is some wind blowing,” Trujillo admitted.
The Lobos have been very successful at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational in the past, winning the event most recently in 2008. As a member of New Mexico’s 2008 Longhorn champion lineup, Lobo assistant coach, Britney Choy, is confident that this team has what it takes to come out with a win.
“It takes a lot of patience and positive thinking to win on this course,” said Choy. “The course is hard, but you can’t let yourself get down. You can break it down into three-hole sections and make a goal for every three holes. That gives you 18 tries to hit your goal.”
The travel roster for the Lobos looks a little different for this event, with two freshmen penetrating the lineup. While Molle’, Gutierrez, and Moisand have all played on the UT Golf Club course before, freshmen Sol Lee and Darian Zachek will face the course for the very first time in their collegiate careers.
“This is exciting for the new ones,” Choy explained. “They don’t know what they are going to be up against.”
Despite the inexperienced faces in the lineup, the Lobo coaches are happy with the consistency and focus of the team.
“We have 54 holes to play and it’s a great field, but I have never seen a team work harder than the one we have right now,” said Choy. “I believe that they are hungry for a W.”
The first round begins on Monday, October 19 with a shotgun start at 8:30 AM.
22nd RANKED LOBOS TAKE ON BETSY RAWLS LONGHORN INVITATIONAL
