BYU women's golf takes 12th at Texas A&M Mo-morial

COLLEGE STATION -- Behind strong final-round performances from Newren sisters Rachel and Nicole, the BYU women's golf team took 12th place Tuesday at the Texas A&M Mo-morial Invitational.

Freshman Rachel Newren, despite being under the weather and saddened by a death in the family, shot a 75 on the last 18 holes. Newren's sister, Nicole, tallied a 77, scores that were good enough for 34th and 38th respectively in the individual player rankings.

BYU head coach Sue Nyhus said she was proud of her team, but sees room for improvement.

"We had a lot of good moments out there," she said. "We're still not putting it all together, but there are signs of some great things to come.

The Cougars, who scored 318-309-310--937 in the two-day event, fell behind in the first round Monday and played catch-up thereafter, finishing four strokes behind UTEP (313-303-317--933). Kansas State (292-313-304--909) won the Invitational by shooting 1-under-par on a playoff hole, breaking a tie with Missouri (298-304-307--909) for the top spot.

"The first round put us behind," Nyhus said. "If it weren't for that, we would have been right there."

Alexis Edwards (80-80-78--238), Margaret Gibby (79-75-85--239), and Natalie Newren (84-78-80--242) rounded out the rest of the Cougars' five. Kansas State's Christine Boucher (70-77-72--219) was the tournament's top individual, shooting just 3-over-par overall.

Gibby, whose second-round score of 75 tied Rachel Newren for BYU's low, said that mental toughness is the key.

"After starting out poorly on the first round I was determined to focus," Gibby said. "I had a game plan for each hole."

BYU finished 14th at the Mo-morial in 2003. Last year's champion, Baylor, took ninth place on Tuesday.

The Cougars are back in action March 8-9 at the Bobcat Desert Classic in Goodyear, Ariz. BYU's trio of Newren sisters left the team after Tuesday's play to attend a funeral, but will rejoin the team in time for next week's tournament.

Texas A&M Mo-morial      College Station, Texas
March 1-2, 2004          Blackhorse Golf Club
Par: 72                  Yardage: 6,100
 
  12 BYU                      318-309-310--937 (+73)
T 34 Rachel Newren            82-76-75--233    (+17)
T 38 Nicole Newren-Chandler   77-80-77--234    (+18)
T 59 Alexis Edwards           80-80-78--238    (+22)
T 61 Margaret Gibby           79-75-85--239    (+23)
T 72 Natalie Newren           84-78-80--242    (+26)
Fin. Top 20 Teams             Score
T 1 	Kansas State Univ. 	    	292-313-304--909 
T 1 	Missouri, U. of 	       	298-304-307--909 
  3 	TCU                      307-308-297--912
T 4 	Texas A&M University	   	303-305-306--914 
T 4 	Arkansas, U. of          311-295-308--914 
  6 	Indiana University       299-305-311--915 
T 7 	Northwestern Univ.      	303-304-309--916 
T 7 	Kansas, U. of 	         	302-302-312--916 
  9 	Baylor 	                	303-309-309--921 
  10 Southern Methodist      	310-302-312--924 
  11	Texas El Paso, U. of 	  	313-303-317--933 
  12	Brigham Young Univ.     	318-309-310--937 
  13 Wisconsin, U. of 	       317-316-307--940 
  14 Arkansas-Little Rock 	 	 317-304-320--941 
  15 Texas Tech Univ 	        319-302-322--943 
  16 McLennan CC 	            334-336-345--1015
 
Fin. Top 20 Players           School               Score
 	1 	Christine Boucher      	 Kansas State Univ. 	 70-77-72--219 
T 2 	Amanda Costner           Kansas, U. of 	      72-74-75--221 
T 2 	Maria Ohlsson            Missouri, U. of 	    75-74-72--221 
T 4 	Malinda Johnson          Wisconsin, U. of    	74-77-71--222 
T 4 	Alice Kim                Northwestern Univ. 	 76-72-74--222 
T 6 	Karen Dennison           Indiana University 	 72-73-78--223 
T 6 	Brooke Tull              TCU 	                78-75-70--223 
 	8 	Amanda McCurdy           Arkansas, U. of      76-72-76--224 
T 9 	Josefin Svenningsson     Baylor               73-77-75--225 
T 10 Camille Blackerby        TCU 	                77-76-73--226 
T 10 Gena Johnson             Arkansas, U. of      77-72-77--226 
T 10 Denise Knaebel           Missouri, U. of 	    72-77-77--226 
T 13 Missy Ryan               Southern Methodist 	 76-76-75--227 
T 13 Christa Spedding         Texas A&M University 74-76-77--227 
T 15 Danah Ford               Indiana University 		77-76-75--228 
T 15 Anne Mallory             Texas El Paso, U. of 77-75-76--228 
T 15 Kelli McKandless         Baylor               75-77-76--228 
T 15 Karen Quintelier         Kansas State Univ. 	 71-79-78--228 
T 19 Nicole Melton            Texas A&M University 77-76-76--229 
T 19 Molly Redfearn           Indiana University   76-76-77--229 
T 19 Linda Svensson           Arkansas-Little Rock 78-75-76--229