HATTIESBURG, Mississippi
– In just her fourth tournament as a Texan, sophomore
Lou Deltombe carded a three under-par to lead Tarleton State to a fourth-place finish, the best of the season, in its final event of the fall at The Judson 2023 at Hattiesburg CC.
Deltombe's win marked the first win by a women's golfer since 2021 when
Sofia Rodriguez and
Alejandra Combronero at the PVAMU Invitational in the spring of March 2021.
Lou played phenomenal golf this week, " said coach
Isabel Jimenez after the third round on Tuesday. "She is the type of player that always wants to do well, she has that fire in her veins, whether it is a tournament or a little game at practice, she wants to win. I am very happy of the way she finished off the fall season, very well deserved for her."
Deltombe started off the tournament on fire shooting a five-under par, 67, in the first round of the day on Monday. Deltombe proceeded to card a pair of 73's to finish the event three under, two strokes up on the runner-up. The sophomore carded 12 birdies across three rounds including six in the first round alone. She turned in her best performance as a Texan setting a new single round low and 54-hole round low.
"This week's weather conditions were tougher but I am very proud of the way the whole team pushed through it and fought through every hole," continued Jimenez. "Obviously we would have loved to stay in the top three, but at the same time, it has been a season of improvement during every single tournament, so that is definitely the positive thought that we are are going to take into the offseason. Our next competition will not be until early February, so now is time for some rest and for working on tuning in for Spring 24"
Led by Deltombe, the Texans earned a fourth-place finish, their best finish as a team in the fall slate.
Rebeca Fernandez ended the three-round tournament, five-over par shooting a season-best 221, and finishing the highest in a tie for 16
th place, her first top-20 mark of the fall.
Last week's star
Mathilde Brogens shot a 77-75-78 and finished in 34
th place.
Elle Fox finished in a tie for 55
th place, with a 76-85-79, her best place of the fall.
Sofia Rodriguez rounded out the Texan lineup shooting 80-79-84 in her three rounds to finish in 64
th place.
Deltombe took home the individual crown in the same week as men's golfer, Max Bengtsson. It is the first time in recorded history that a duo won individual crowns in the same week in just the two years as a Division I era for the men's team.
Deltombe was able to hold off runners-up Cincinnati's Paola Rosario (70-74-71) and Central Michigan's Ashley Goh (70-73-72) who each shot one-under par in their three rounds.
Central Arkansas took home the team title shooting a five-over par in the final round to maintain the top of the leaderboard with a +11, 875. The host program, Southern Mississippi took second, shooting an 880 (+16). Thanks to a one-over par final round, Cincinnati leap-frogged Tarleton to round out the podium shooting 885, 21 over-par across the three rounds.
Tarleton State will resume its 2023-24 season with its six-event spring season opening on Feb. 5 at the Texas State Invitational. The Texans will also travel to GCU in February. In March, the Purple and White will play back-to-back weekends at invitationals at Houston Christian and UAB. Finally, the squad will end their regular season slate in Oral Roberts to begin April before the WAC Championships starting on April 19 at Chaparral Pines in Payson, Arizona.
