The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Challenge at Onion Creek
Stephens leads Women's Golf in opening round of Challenge at Onion Creek
11.02.2009 | Women's Golf
Nov. 2, 2009
AUSTIN, Texas -- The University of Texas Women's Golf team is in sixth place after carding an 8-over-par 288 in the first round of the Challenge at Onion Creek. Freshman Haley Stephens led the Longhorns with a 1-under 69 and is tied for seventh place after 18 holes.
Second-round play was suspended at 6:05 p.m. Central due to darkness, and second-round scores are not official at this time per tournament officials. Play will resume at 7:30 a.m. CT Tuesday morning, with 108 players finishing up to four holes each before the third round will begin.
Stephens played steady golf in her morning round, making two birdies and one bogey. Beginning her day on the par-5, 491-yard fifth hole, Stephens made five straight pars before carding her first birdie on the 10th hole, her sixth of the day. Her second birdie came four holes later on No. 14. Stephens' lone blemish was on the par-5, 493-yard 18th hole, resulting in the 1-under scorecard.
Sophomore Nicole Vandermade turned in a 1-over 71 scorecard for UT that contained two birdies and three bogeys. She is tied for 17th place.
Senior Shannon Fish is tied for 27th place at 2-over 72, while freshmen Madison Pressel and Katelyn Sepmoree are tied for 74th place at 6-over 76. Freshman Desiree Dubreuil carded a 1-over 71 while competing as an individual for UT and is tied for 17th place.
San Francisco leads the 21-team field by 18 strokes after firing a 15-under 265 in the opening round. Host Texas State is in second place at 3-over 283, and Texas A&M is three strokes back and in third place at 6-over 286.
San Francisco's Tinna Johannsdottir (64, -6), Natasha Podmore (65, -5) and Daniellee Cvitanov (66, -4) sit in first, second and third places, respectively.
Team and individual pairings will remain the same for Tuesday's conclusion of the second round and in the final round. The Longhorns will again play with Nebraska, Texas A&M and Indiana.
Live scoring can be found online at www.Golfstat.com.
Challenge at Onion Creek Results (Top Five Team) - First round
1. San Francisco, 265 (-15)
2. Texas State, 283 (+3)
3. Texas A&M, 286 (+6)
T4. Augusta State, 287 (+7)
T4. Illinois, 287 (+7)
Texas Results
6. TEXAS, 288 (+8)
Top Five Individuals
1. Tinna Johannsdottir - San Francisco, 64 (-6)
2. Natasha Podmore - San Francisco, 65 (-5)
3. Danielle Cvitanov - San Francisco, 66 (-4)
T4. Krista Puisite - Texas State, 67 (-3)
T4. Julia Boland - Texas A&M, 67 (-3)
Texas Players
T7. Haley Stephens, 69 (-1)
T17. Nicole Vandermade, 71 (+1)
T27. Shannon Fish, 72 (+2)
T74. Madison Pressel, 76 (+6)
T74. Katelyn Sepmoree, 76 (+6)
Texas Individual
T17. Desiree Dubreuil, 71 (+1)
POST-ROUND QUOTES
Head Coach Martha Richards
On the team's overall performance and playing 18+ holes Tuesday: We had three solid first-round scores from Haley, Nicole and Shannon. We were just missing that fourth score this morning. Tomorrow is a new day for us, and we'll have to face it like the 20-hole day it is going to be. Instead of saying, `we need to finish round two,' we're going to challenge ourselves to play these last 20 holes as well as we can. It's hard to tell where we are on the leaderboard (due to the suspension of play), but we'll all have 20 birdie opportunities tomorrow.
On playing on a 'home course': One of the things we talked about before this tournament was not taking this course for granted just because we have practiced on it before. Today was a lesson of preparing ourselves to be ready to play every day.
On playing in Austin: It's fun to be playing here in Austin. Because of the nature of our sport, we don't play at home very often, and this is special to us. It's great to see all of our burnt orange-clad supporters out here, and it means a lot to these young women to play in front of their family and friends.
