The Field vs. New Mexico – Texas, North Florida, UNLV, Texas Tech, Baylor, Tulane, Tulsa, Texas State, Notre Dame, Minnesota, SMU, Miami and Kent State.
The Lobos – Katerina Jaeger, Eva Saulnier, Manon Mollé, Ingrid Gutierrez and Alexandra Moisand.
AUSTIN, Texas – The University of New Mexico women’s golf team is set to play this week in the 2016 Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational at the University of Texas Golf Club in Austin, Texas. After a rocky finish at the Lady Paladin in Greenville, S.C., the Lobos are looking to improve as their fall season is slowly coming to a close.
“We’ve had about three weeks to work on a few things with each individual player and I think we’ve worked through some mental challenges that we’ve had. We’re ready to perform well at the University of Texas,” said head coach, Jill Trujillo.
After a fifth place finish last year, the Lobos hope to continue the tradition of placing well in this field. On New Mexico’s side, both Manon Mollé and Ingrid Gutierrez tied for a sixth place finish with par-even cards of 216. Gutierrez picked up 12 out of the 41 birdies shot by the Lobos.
“I’m really excited about this week and I want us to do better than last year,” said junior Ingrid Gutierrez.
Gutierrez experienced a little hiccup at the Lady Paladin Invitation a few weeks ago after her second round score of 67, five-under-par, totaling six birdies. It was arguably a great run for the Lobos and Gutierrez but after an unsigned scorecard, she was disqualified and UNM fell into the 17th position out of 20 teams in Greenville, S.C..
“Of course, after the tournament was finished, no one felt really good about it,” noted Trujillo after asked about the scorecard incident. “The important thing about golf, as in any other sport, you have to leave that stuff behind and learn from the mistakes that you made and move on and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
These past few weeks have given the Lobos a great opportunity to improve and tweak on things that will affect the team’s overall performance. During qualifiers for the Betsy Rawls Invitational last weekend, the field of New Mexico changed up a bit.
“We shook it up a little bit, played some different tees and games out on the course for qualifying, so it wasn’t necessarily how we scored but how we got there. It made them all think a lot about certain choices they make on the golf course that can affect your final outcome,” said Trujillo.
In total there will be 14 teams competing including No. 10 Kent State, No. 11 Miami, No. 19 Texas and No. 22 SMU in the 54-hole tournament with 36-holes on Monday and 18-holes on Tuesday.
“It’s a pretty good field. The home team, Texas, is playing well and they would have the home advantage since it’s their home course. I think if we have a top five finish that’s going to bode well for us,” said by Trujillo.
The tournament will have a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. and continuous play of 36-holes on Monday, October 17 at the University of Texas Golf Club.
Follow the Lobos via live score here.