The Charles Schwab Women’s Collegiate Invitational on Tuesday was a step in the wrong direction for a No. 6 Texas women’s golf squad that has been inconsistent in the spring.
Coming off the heels of its second win of the season at the Betsy Rawls Invitational on March 18, Texas tied its worst finish by placing sixth at the Schwab.
ANNIKA Award hopeful Farah O’Keefe tied for 14th place, the lowest she has finished since Texas’ first competition this season. The sophomore has not finished in the top five in the squad’s last four tournaments after doing so in four of their first six. If Texas wants to steal the Southeastern Conference Championship from No. 2 Arkansas and No. 5 South Carolina on Apr. 16, O’Keefe will need to return to her usual form.
While O’Keefe has struggled, fellow sophomore Lauren Kim has soared. Kim has top-six finishes in the team’s last four competitions, including a first-place finish at the Betsy Rawls Invitational. She was the only Longhorn to finish under par on Tuesday, birdieing four times in the third round alone.
Junior Angela Heo went six over par in the first round but managed to clean it up in the second and third rounds, giving her the 32nd-best score of the event. Her performance is a step in the right direction after placing fifth at the Rawls Invitational and 79th at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate Tournament.
Junior Cindy Hsu placed 68th, a season-low, and like Hsu, has gone from a picture of consistency to erraticness. Hsu started the season finishing between 11th and 18th in her first three competitions, but in the last five matches, she has had two top-six finishes paired with 40th and 68th-placed finishes.
The poor results could be attributed to fatigue, as this is the third tournament they have played in March. If so, the burnt orange can look forward to the two weeks off they have before they travel to Tampa, Florida, for the SEC Championship.
In that time, head coach Laura Ianello will need to prepare her golfers. If she can extract a similar performance Texas put up in the Rawls, the Horns can make some real noise in Tampa.
