The UNC women’s golf team finished third out of 13 teams at the Texas A&M "'Mo'Morial" event after tying the lowest team score of the tournament Wednesday afternoon.
What happened?
After just nine holes on Tuesday morning, the Tar Heels found themselves in a terrible position. They had struggled through the first few holes and were nearly sitting in last place after putting massive numbers on the board. Junior Crista Izuzquiza had carded two double bogies in her first five holes and first-year Vilde Nystrøm recorded two double bogies and a triple bogey in her first 10 holes.
Following this tough start to the three-round event, it was the Tar Heels' mental toughness and resilience that pushed them through to mitigate the early first-round mistakes.
Despite their rocky starts, Nystrøm finished her final eight holes in one under par and Izuzquiza did not record another double bogey the rest of the tournament. Izuzquiza shot a final round 69 to rise 28 spots in the individual standings on Wednesday, a key to the team’s final round success.
During the second round on Tuesday, UNC’s team score improved by a whopping 20 strokes, tying Texas for the low round of the day. This momentum carried into round three on Wednesday when the team shot the low round of the day at 280, beating out the home team Texas A&M by eight strokes on that round.
UNC finished the tournament in third place at a score of four under par. The Tar Heels scored equal to or better than the winning team Texas A&M in the final two rounds, but couldn’t quite overcome early first-round errors.
Who stood out?
Two senior players, Kayla Smith and Krista Junkkari finished in the top five at the tournament, with Smith taking low medalist honors. Smith’s final round score of four under 68 brought her up five places in the standings — overtaking players from Florida and Texas A&M to bring her three-day total to nine-under par 207.
