MESA, Ariz. – The No. 5 Tarleton TexAnn golf team will look to do what no other Tarleton athletics team has done before – bring home a NCAA Division II national championship.
The TexAnns are ranked fifth in the country by the National Golf Coaches Association poll and No. 7 by Golfstat.com, but the TexAnns hope their experience in the last three national tournaments can help propel them to the top of the field at the Logbow Golf Club in Mesa, Ariz. on May 12-15.
Tarleton has won four straight Super Region Four championships, and with the last three trips to the national championships, the TexAnns have finished fifth, fifth and sixth.
Tarleton has won more tournaments over the last few seasons than anyone at any level of the NCAA or NAIA, according to Golfstat.com's records. This season, the TexAnns have taken eight titles, which is tied for the highest in NCAA Division I, II, III and NAIA with Divison II teams Nova Southeastern and Grand Valley State.
“We want to go to the national tournament and bring home the championship,” said Tarleton head coach Jerry Doyle. “We have conference title and regional titles, but we want the national title. We are not satisfied with fifth or sixth place, we want it all.”
Tarleton, however, is not alone in returning experience to the national championships. Nine of the 12 teams competing are nationally ranked, and the top four teams in the national poll have all been there before as well. No. 1 Nova Southeastern, No. 2 Grand Valley State, No. 3 Rollins and No. 4 Florida Southern are all participating in the event. Other nationally ranked teams include No. 9 Indianapolis, No. 20 California (Pa.), No. 8 Cal State-Monterey Bay and No. 13 Sonoma State. Super Region Three has three teams competing from its region that are all unranked: Augustana (S.D.), Western New Mexico and Minnesota State-Mankato.
Winning the other regionals was GVSU (Super Region One), NSU (Super Region Two) and Augustana (Super Region Three).
“There is no pressure on us,” Doyle said. “We feel the pressure to win the conference title and the regional title, now we just need to go play our brand of golf, and I believe we can give the title a good run.”
The TexAnns have won 26 tournaments, dating back to the 2006-07 season. Tarleton has claimed a victory in 26 of their last 39 tournaments, and it has finished in the top five in all but two of those events. The TexAnns are 357-34 in the last four seasons in head-to-head competition against teams in their division, including a 290-23 mark in the 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons.
Carla Cooper leads the team with a 74.91 stroke per round average. She averages 75.2 strokes per first and second round and 72.0 strokes per third round. She is No. 4 in the nation in par three scoring (3.14), No. 3 in par four scoring (4.22), No. 19 in par five scoring (5.16) and No. 4 in subpar strokes per round (2.30). She has a low round this season of 66 that she shot at the Grand Canyon Invitational.
Jacqueline Lau is second on the team with a 77.13 strokes per round average. She has a low round of 72 at the GCU Invitational, and she led the team at the Super Region Four tournament with a 228 to tie for second individually.
Katy Ward is third on the team with a 78.35 strokes per round average. She has a low round of 70 that she shot at the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament as she helped the TexAnns to claim the victory by finishing second overall individually.
Melanie Tham, who finished fourth at the regional tournament last week in Canyon, is fourth on the team with a 78.43 strokes per round average. She has a low round of 72 this season at the GCU Invitational.
Andrea Lowe has a 78.96 strokes per round average, and her season low is a 74 at both the Central Oklahoma Invitational in the fall and a t the Super Four Regional Tournament on day two.
The TexAnns played the Longbow Golf Club earlier this year at the Ashland Desert Invitational. Tarleton led after the first day of competition, but the TexAnns fell to third place after the final round to lose to CSMB (624) by three strokes with a 627. GVSU finished second with a 625.
Tarleton is set to start teeing off on Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. PDT and a TexAnn will follow every 10 minutes through 9:25 a.m. at the 10th tee. Round two will follow on Thursday with rounds three and four on Friday and Saturday.
