April 11, 2005
Columbia, MO - The No. 16 University of Missouri Women Golf squad won its second tournament of the spring on Monday when they dominated the final round of the Susie Maxwell Berning Invitational in Norman, OK. The Tigers shot rounds of 298, 290 and 301 for a total of 889 to win the tournament by 10 strokes over Tulsa at The Trails Golf Course (Par 72, 6,017 yards). This is Mizzou's fifth first place finish under head coach Stephanie Cooper and their seventh top five finish in nine tournaments played so far this season.
"We adapted really well to how the golf course changed throughout the tourney due to the weather conditions and executed our game plan well," Coach Cooper said. "We wanted to dedicate this win to our seniors (Maria Ohlsson and Mindy Bullard) and build some momentum for the Big 12 Championships in two weeks where we want to make a run at the top spot."
Ohlsson and Bullard were both excellent and were two of the four Tigers who finished in the top 10 in the tourney. Sophomore Kelli Strubinger was the Tigers top finisher as she capped her tournament with an even-par 72 to finish with a three-round total of 222 which earned her a career-best 2nd place finish. Strubinger had the shot of the tournament yesterday when she drained a 160-yard hole-in-one on the par three sixth hole with an eight iron.
Just behind Strubinger was fellow junior Denise Knaebel who shot a 223 for the tournament and recorded her fourth top five finish of the season. Knaebel shot a 74 in the final round and finished in fifth place for the tourney. Ohlsson finished her tourney in seventh with a three round total of 224 while Bullard managed a 226 to finish in ninth place. Not far out of the top 10 was sophomore Stephanie Wavro who finished in 13th with a total of 228. The 13th place finish was just one spot off of equaling her career-best finish Wavro recorded at the Central District Invitational in February.
Mizzou will next take to the course on April 22-24 at the Big 12 Championships which will be played at the University of Texas Golf Course in Austin, TX. Live scoring will be provided at www.mutigers.com by way of www.golfstat.com. Complete results and a recap of all of the action will be posted following each round on the home of Mizzou Athletics on the web, www.mutigers.com.