Last spring, it was junior Madison Pressel. In November, it was senior Nicole Vandermade. Two weeks ago it was junior Haley Stephens. And this week, it was junior Desiree Dubreuil.

Dubreuil had her best tournament since coming to Texas, bursting onto the scene to finish a career best of 12th overall at the Battle at Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego. After starting Tuesday’s final round with a bogey on the first hole and four bogeys overall, Dubreuil stayed calm, finishing two birdies over the final seven holes to match her Monday total of 2-over-par.

The experienced Longhorns have had stellar showings individually but have failed to put together a very strong collective effort this spring. Dubreuil became the third different golfer to lead Texas this season. Texas finished 10th overall as a team, shooting 41-over-par, and 27 shots behind winner and third-ranked USC.

“As a team, I look at what do we need to work on collectively as a group,” said head coach Martha Richards. “I know they were frustrated and played hard the whole time.”

In November, Vandermade won the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational, and soared to a top 10 ranking nationally following three top-10 finishes on the season. Coming into San Diego this week, Vandermade looked to capitalize on a familiar course where she had a strong tournament last year.

“[Last year] she managed her game really well, and this golf course allows her to have an advantage on the par 5s and a couple of the longer par 4s,” Richards said.

However, it was not Vandermade’s week, birdying only two of the 36 holes. Pressel finished strong down the stretch, grabbing two consecutive birdies to finish three strokes better than the first round.

The conditions were decent at best following heavy showers over the weekend, causing strong winds and wet greens.

“Everyone needs to work a lot on their short game,” Richards said. “It’s not that our short games are bad, but they just haven’t been good enough to help us.”

Texas heads out west again in about two weeks for their final tournament of the regular season in Tempe, Ariz.

Published on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 as: Dubreuil leads Horns with 12th-place finish