Tyler Boydston
Sports Editor
Cameron University’s women’s golf team recently played host to the Oklahoma Intercollegiate on Oct. 22 and 23 at the Hill Golf Course on the Fort Sill military base, where the team placed sixth overall.
During the first day of the tournament, the team had a third place standing with a team score of 301.
Seven members of the team went out to tee off at the tournament, with five playing as a team and two — junior Shelby Anderson and senior Johnna Holden — playing individually. Anderson scored a 78 while Holden shot an 83 that day.
Sophomore Jaqueline Strickland shot a first round score of 73, and juniors Aleesha Holden, Lindsey Alexander and Kylee Johnson shot 76 each, playing together for a team score in the tournament. Freshman Alexis Thompson shot a 78 on the first day.
On the second day of the tournament, the team shot a 310 and found themselves at sixth place.
Strickland scored a 76 on her second day and placed ninth in the tournament overall. While Johnson scored a 75 and tied for 16th, Alexander scored 80 and Thompson shot 78, which tied them for 31st in the tournament. Aleesha Holden rounded out the team with an 83 on the second day, tying her for 44th.
Individual players Shelby Anderson and Johnna Holden shot a 160 and 164 over the course of the two days respectively. Anderson tied for 48th while Holden tied for 60th.
According to women’s head golf coach Rick Goodwin, the team’s fall from third to sixth place over the course of the two rounds showed that the team needs to step up to face with Midwestern State and Tarleton State, which were first and second place, respectively.
“The first round we were about as good as we could be,” Goodwin said. “The second round, we had a couple players fall off and that cost us the score. We had all the schools from the Lone Star Conference in this tournament. We just need to get to where we can compete with Midwestern State and Tarleton State. We are getting better, but so is everybody else.”
Third place in the tournament went to Central Oklahoma, with a score of 594 over the course of the two days.
Goodwin said the team has a strategy to improve their game once they return in the spring semester, aiming to lose two shots a person.
“We talk about how to get better all the time,” Goodwin said. “Basically what we talk about is losing two shots a person, so eight shots for the four girls who count toward the team. With that in mind, we would have been tied for third with Central Oklahoma. We talk about it all the time, and the players need to see where they can save a couple of shots each round. The information we get from Golf Stat lets us know where we stand as far as birdies and pars. We can break it down statistically and keep up with our progress or lack thereof.”
With this tournament being at home, Goodwin said the only problem was his time away from the team due to his hosting duties.
“The drawback is that I have a lot of obligations as the host, which hurts my coaching a little bit,” Goodwin said. “I try to get out there a little bit each day with the players, but I also have to help with the scoring. With hosting, though, it is usually a plus. It is your home course so you should be more familiar with it, and it should not beat you up on travel.”
The Oklahoma Intercollegiate was the last tournament for the women’s golf team for the fall season, but they will return in the spring on Feb. 8–12 in St. Augustine, Florida to go against Flagler University.