NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi golf team will look to extend its spring success just a bit further as they finally enter the SLC Championships, set for Monday through Wednesday at the Bandit Golf Club.
The Bandit is a par 71, 6,352-yard course. The teams will tee off at 8 a.m. with one round each day, with the final round set for Wednesday where the winner will be crowned.
The Islanders are sending a full team to the championships to go up against conference opponents Augusta, HCU, Lamar, Bryant, UIW, and A&M-Commerce. UIW is playing host to the tournament.
"The team is very excited about this year's conference championship," said head coach
Pat Stephens. "We feel if we can get off to a good start, we could be in the hunt for the title. The goal is to be in last group and a chance to win on the back nine on Wednesday."
The Islanders had quite the highlight of a spring, coming away with two first-place finishes in addition to three individual titles. Senior
Lucie Charbonnier is most recently coming off her second individual win of the season after placing first at Lamar's Cardinal Challenge. It helped her become the SLC April Golfer of the Month.
She carded a 72-74-77 – 223 in the effort to finish just seven over par. She was two strokes ahead of second place in the team's regular season finale to help the Islanders finish second. She also took the individual title at the Islanders Classic, the 2024 season opener. This is her first season to win twice and the first Islander to do so since 2003-04 when Ashlie Simmons won four.
With that runners-up finish, the Islanders finished out the spring in the top-three in four of the five tournaments including winning both the Islander Classic and the UTRGV Vaqueros Invitational. At UTRGV, freshman
Samantha Gibbs won her first collegiate individual and it came in record-breaking fashion.
Breaking the program record for low round, inevitably having her also break the program's low 54-hole total, Gibbs shot a 66 in the final round to card a 201 (-12) total on the week for the win. Her 54-hole score is 12 strokes better than the previously occupied front runner in the program, which was fellow teammate Charbonnier with a 213 (-3) set twice last year.
At the same tournament, the Islanders shot a 280 in round two, the second lowest round in school history, to aid in a 565 score through two rounds to actually break the school record for lowest 36-hole total.
Sophomore
Lucia Ramirez and freshman
Carla Puente Fernandez are coming off a solid performance, with the former finishing fifth at Lamar. Fernandez finished 15
th, her highest placing of the season.
"We need solid play from Lucie, Lucia, and Samantha. We have all six players at conference this week but will have Carla at #4, Reese at #5, and Elsa as a substitute. If we can get good scores out of our 4, 5, and substitute, we will be in great shape. Go Islanders!" said Stephens.
Live scoring will be available to follow along with each day. The Islanders will be going for their first-ever conference championship.
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