McKINNEY, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi golf team posted its best round of the season on Wednesday, firing a 305 in the final 18 holes of the 2015 Southland Conference Women's Golf Championship at Stonebridge Ranch Country Club. The Islanders shot 3-over on the back nine as a team in the final 18 holes.
Anna Millet-Esteve shot a 75 in round three to finish with a 234 (81-78-75) in the 54-hole event to lead the Islanders. Fellow freshmen Nagisa Miura (79-82-76—237) and Olivia Lowe (82-83-76—241) each shot a 76 on the final day of the tournament, while sophomore Ana Paredes delivered a 78 to finish her second SLC Championship with a 238 (81-79-78). Freshman Julia Dereniwsky shot an 84 on Wednesday to finish with a 251 (86-81-84).
"With all the youth on our team this year, we had our ups and downs, and to finish on such a strong note was outstanding," head coach Carol Blackmar said. "We had good execution, but maybe more importantly our mental toughness was as good as it has been all year. I'm really proud of the growth we showed today, and it gives us a great foundation to build on for next season."
Millet-Esteve started the round red-hot, drilling a birdie putt on the first and adding a second birdie with a strong putt on four to move to 2-under heading to the fifth. She dropped a shot with a bogey at the par-4 sixth, but pars on seven and eight sent her to the ninth 1-under, but she posted a double on 9 to move 1-over-par at the turn. Much like the rest of her teammates, she turned up her play on the back nine, delivering eight pars on her way in. Her lone blemish came with a double bogey on the par-4 12th, and from then on she closed things out with six straight pars – including a chip-in to save par on the 16th – to end her tourney with a 75.
Miura started the round with bogeys on the first two holes, but bounced back with a strong birdie on the par-5 third to move to 1-under. She followed that up with consecutive pars, but alternated bogey and par over the next four holes to head to the 10th at plus-3. The freshman started the back nine with a bang, drilling an eight-foot birdie putt on the 10th to lower her score to 2-over. She followed that with three straight pars before consecutive bogeys on 14 and 15, and then finished off her round with pars on each of her final three holes for a 76.
Lowe opened her round with two pars and a bogey to sit plus-1 on her way to the fourth, but then ran into a bogey string with four straight from 4-7 to move to 5-over. She rebounded with a strong tee shot on eight to birdie the par-3, but dropped a shot with a bogey on the ninth for a score of plus-10 at the turn. She made her run on the back, notching birdies on 11 and 13. Her birdie on the 13th was came on a 20-foot birdie putt that set her to plus-3. She then suffered her lone blemish of the round on the 14th with a bogey. She finished things strong, though, running off four straight pars to post a 76, her lowest round of her freshman campaign.
Paredes got out to a solid start, delivering four pars and a bogey on the first five holes to sit plus-1 on her way to the sixth. But she hit a tough patch at six, and that started a run of four consecutive bogeys to arrive at the 10th plus-5. The sophomore was able to right the ship after that, though, running off pars on her next four holes, then delivering a 30-foot putt for birdie on the 14th to move to 4-over. She dropped a shot on the 15th, but finished par-par-bogey to enter the clubhouse with a 78.
Dereniwsky opened her round bogey-par-bogey to sit plus-2 before delivering a birdie on the fourth to drop back to 1-over. She had bogeys on the next two holes to move to 3-over, and then a double on the par-3 eighth sent her to 10 at plus-5. She posted a pair of doubles, a bogey and a par over the next four holes to fall to 10-over. She rebounded at the end of the round, alternating par and bogey all the way to the end, finishing her round with a par on 18.
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