CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – For the second year in a row, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi golf program refused to relinquish ownership of the Islanders Classic trophy by winning this year's tournament by a 13-stroke margin following another strong round Tuesday at the Corpus Christi Country Club.
The Islanders matched their first-round score of a 304 on the final day to card an even 900 (+36) 54-hole total to secure the team championship. It was 13 strokes better than second-place UTRGV.
The finish ahead of UTRGV helped the Islanders also garner three points towards the South Texas Showdown, an annual rivalry between the two institutions. It extends the Islanders' lead in this year's competition to 26.0-14.0.
Additionally, sophomore
Samantha Gibbs ran away with the individual title, finishing just +1 today for the 218-tournament score. It marks her second career win after she won the Vaqueros Invitational last season as a freshman which came in record breaking fashion with a program-low round (66) and 54-hole total (201).
"I am so proud of this team for this victory, becoming back-to-back champions of the Islanders Classic!" said first-year head coach
Chris Adams. "There is always a little added pressure on you as the home team, and I think we handled that well. We had a good game plan that everyone had confidence in and the weather held good with some gusty winds at times. Overall, it was a total team effort as we had four players in the top-10 while we also secured the individual champion and the runner-up."
Junior
Elsa Tornvall also put on a show this week, finishing second only behind Gibbs as the Islanders produced the top two performers in their home tournament. Tornvall posted a 224 (+8) through the three rounds for the runner-up finish.
Rounding out the individuals top-10 list were junior
Lucia Ramirez in ninth and graduate
Tristan Gabbard at 10
th. Ramirez submitted a 229 total while Gabbard turned in her best round of the tournament with a 75 today to finish at 231. Sophomore
Carla Puente Fernandez moved up eight spots in the standings after also shooting her tournament-low round today of a 78, closing out a 241-tournament score.
Full tournament results can be found
here.
"I'm proud of Sam for getting to add another collegiate win to her record as well as Elsa notching a tie for runner up. They were able to card the only two under-par rounds of the entire tournament. The fall brought some challenges with several injuries, so to start the spring off this way has things looking very optimistic!" said Adams.
The Islanders will look to carry this momentum through the next two weeks of practice before getting back on the course to compete in Abilene Christian's West Texas Classic March 2-4.
Team Standings
1. A&M-Corpus Christi, 900
2. UTRGV, 913
3. Lamar, 914
4. New Mexico JC, 920
5. Purdue-Ft. Wayne, 928
6. Weatherford, 960
7. McLennan, 968
8. Blinn, 973
9. Texas A&M-Kingsville, 976
10. Valpo, 984
Individual Standings (out of 56)
1.
Samantha Gibbs, 76-69-73 - 218 (+1)
T2.
Elsa Tornvall, 73-71-80 - 224 (+8)
9.
Lucia Ramirez, 77-74-78 - 229 (+13)
T10.
Tristan Gabbard, 78-78-75 - 231 (+15)
T30.
Carla Puente Fernandez, 82-81-78 - 241 (+25)
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