April 23, 2001
Harvester, Iowa - The University of Missouri women's golf team, bidding for its first-ever conference championship, fired a team score of 319 to take the first round lead at the 2001 Big 12 Championships, which got underway today at The Harvester Golf Club in Harvester, Iowa. Play continues with second-round action on Tuesday, with the final round set for Wednesday.
Missouri holds a six-stroke lead over second-place Oklahoma State (325), and is up by 11 over the nation's 9th-ranked team, Texas (3rd - 330). Today's conditions were cold and breezy, but Head Coach Tom Loyd's squad held up the best, and is in early position to top its previous best finish in Big 12 history (4th, 1997 & 2000).
"A score of 319 on a sunny day isn't a good score," Missouri head coach Tom Loyd said. "On a day like today, it is. The scores were high today. You never know where you are in the standings until you come in and look at the scoreboard. These are the toughest conditions I've seen in five or six years. The combination of wind and cold made play difficult," Loyd said.
Tiger senior Jamie Tucker sits atop the leaderboard after day one, after shooting a four-over par 76. She leads Oklahoma State's Maria Boden by one stroke heading into Tuesday's round. Tucker recovered from a slow start, in which she stood three-over par through four holes. Included in that start was a double-bogey 7 at the par-five fourth hole. But Tucker would finish her round at just one-over in the remaining 14 holes, and finished strong with a birdie on the par-five 18th.
"I don't mind playing in the wind," Tucker said. "Being from Oklahoma, I'm used to it. It was a little chilly today, but everyone else had to deal with it also. You just have to be patient," she said.
Defending Big 12 Champion Amelia Moses is right in the thick of the chase, as well. Moses, who became MU's first-ever conference champion last year in Lubbock, shot a seven-over par 79 Monday, and is alone in fourth place, just three shots out of the lead. The senior was just three-over par heading into the final four holes, but she bogeyed each one to slip to seven over for the day.
A pair of Tigers - sophomore Elin Ohlsson and junior Nisha Sadekar - are tied for eighth place overall, after shooting identical rounds of 82. Ohlsson survived a string of six straight bogeys early on (holes 5 through 10) and finished her round by parring three of her last four holes. She also birdied the par-four 13th hole. Sadekar fell victim to a slow start, as she suffered two double-bogeys on the front nine, and went out in 44 strokes. She found her swing on the back nine, however, and came home in 38 shots, playing the last eight holes at just one-over par. Sadekar notched birdies on the par-four 11th and par-five 18th holes.
Rounding out the Tiger lineup was senior Jill Rosen, who stands in 58th place overall after fighting the elements to a round of 99 in what represented her first outing of the spring season.
TEAM STANDINGS Pl Team 1st 2nd 3rd Total 1 MISSOURI 319 2 Oklahoma St. 325 3 Texas 330 4 Baylor 335 5 Nebraska 341 6 Kansas St. 344 Texas Tech 344 8 Colorado 346 Texas A&M 346 10 Iowa St. 351 Oklahoma 351 12 Kansas 358
INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS Pl Player (School) 1st 2nd 3rd Tot 1 Jamie Tucker (MU) 76 2 Maria Boden (OSU) 77 3 Linda Wessberg (OSU) 78 4 Amelia Moses (MU) 79 5 Sarah Sasse (NU) 80 8 Elin Ohlsson (MU) 82 Nisha Sadekar (MU) 82 58 Jill Rosen (MU) 99