 "Photo: Edmarc Hedrick/The Daily Texan")
The Longhorns capped off their fall season with a fourth-place finish at the Challenge at Onion Creek in Austin Tuesday afternoon. The two-day tournament featured a field of 21 teams, the largest the Longhorns had faced all season.
“I thought overall we played well,” said Coach Martha Richards. “The conditions were great, and this golf course isn’t set up to separate people. This was the time to step up and separate yourself from the pack. We didn’t do that too well all the time, but we’re young, and every tournament is a great experience.”
Freshman Katelyn Sepmoree tied for 25th with a 5-over-par 215, including a 1-under-par and even on the second and third rounds, respectively. Shannon Fish finished second on the team with an 8-over-par 218. Richards said she thought the scores were good but would like to see more consistency.
“Consistency is the difference between good teams and great teams,” she said. “We need to be consistently really good. I think that will come with a little bit more time and a little bit more experience.”
The three-round, 54-hole tournament was suspended during the second round because it was too dark. So far this fall season, the Longhorns have also dealt with rain cancellations and fog delays. The tournament was the team’s first competition in Austin. Richards said the experiences are valuable, especially for the four freshmen.
“It’s great to have all these experiences already,” she said. “Sometimes you go on the road, and you don’t have some of the distractions you have at home. I think we did pretty well in tuning out distractions, and we got better from it.”
Winner Texas A&M was one of several Big 12 teams featured in the tournament. The Longhorns finished ahead of Texas Tech, Nebraska, Baylor and Missouri. Combined with a win over the 2008 conference champion Oklahoma State in October, Richards said the team has established itself as a top contender.
“I think we’ve shown that we can be one of the teams that can win it this year,” Richards said. “There are a lot of good teams in this conference. It should be a heck of a shoot-out [at the Big 12 Tournament] in the third week of April.”
With Sepmoree’s team-leading finish, all six of the Longhorns that have competed so far have each led the team at the end of a round at least once. Richards said the scores are a tribute to the team’s depth.
“We have six golfers fighting for five spots and four more trying to get in there as well,” she said. “I think it’s encouraging to see how well we all played.”
The Longhorns do not compete again until the end of February. Richards said the team will work on strength and conditioning through the stagnant period.
“I think it’s important to charge our batteries a little bit,” she said. “It’s a chance to improve our game in a different way.”
Richards said the team’s approach going into the spring season will not change.
“I think there’s a little salt in the wounds [from finishing fourth in the season finale],” she said. “But I don’t anticipate our approach will be drastically different. It’s still about playing our kind of golf and playing to the best of our ability. It’s still about taking care of business. We’ll be that much more savvy as the spring goes on.”
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