Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirl Golfers at the NCAA Championships
May 12, 2005 | Cowgirl Golf
Seventh-ranked Oklahoma State
at the NCAA Championships
Tues. - Fri., May 17-20
Meadows Course at Sunriver Resort
Sunriver, Oregon
72-hole stroke play
par 71 • 6,312 yards
Oklahoma State Golfers
No., Name Class Height Handed Rds-Stks Average 1. Annie Thurman-Young Sr. 5-4 Right 30-2193 73.10 2. Karin Sjodin Jr. 5-8 Right 27-1993 73.81 3. Mallorie Underwood So. 5-7 Right 29-2207 76.10 4. Candie Herrera So. 5-5 Right 27-2103 77.89 5. Ali Griffin So. 5-7 Right 21-1672 79.62 Cowgirls advance to NCAA Championships
Oklahoma State’s Cowgirl golf team will travel to Sunriver, Ore., to compete as one of 24 teams in the NCAA Championships, May 17-20. OSU finished fifth at the NCAA West Regional in Las Cruces, N.M. There will be two practice rounds, one each on Sunday and Monday, before the tournament starts at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. The Cowgirls will tee off at 9:10 a.m. from the No. 1 tee on May 17, and will be paired with Virginia and Tulsa. On Wed., May 18, OSU will start off from the No. 10 tee at 1:20 p.m. The tournament will be played on the Meadows Course at Sunriver Resort, a 6,312-yard, par 71 course, and will consist of 18 holes played each day for a total of 72 holes.
Oklahoma State Finishes Fifth at NCAA West Regional
Oklahoma State had the second-best final 36 holes, trailing only UCLA, as the Cowgirls finished fifth at the NCAA West Regional in Las Cruces, N.M., and advanced to the NCAA Championships. The Cowgirls and Bruins were tied for 10th place after the first round with identical 304s. OSU moved up three spots to seventh place after carding a 301 during the second round, and moved up to fifth place following the Cowgirls’ third-round 293. Junior Karin Sjödin finished in a tie for sixth place individually, shooting a four-over 220 during the three-day tournament. Sophomore Mallorie Underwood tied for 11th place with a 223. Senior Annie Thurman-Young, who shot a 79 during the first round and was in 71st place, moved up to 32nd by the end of the tournament, carding a second-round 75 and a 73 during the final round. Sophomore Candie Herrera finished in 40th place after starting out the tournament with a 79 as well, and sophomore Ali Griffin finished with a solid 235, with three rounds of 78-79-78. Oklahoma State’s final round 293 was the best team total for the Cowgirls in 14 rounds of golf, spanning five tournaments.
Oklahoma State at the NCAA Championships
The Cowgirls are competing in their fifth-consecutive NCAA Championships as a team, and making their 14th appearance overall. OSU’s inaugural appearance was in the first-ever NCAA Women’s Golf Championships in 1982, when the Cowgirls finished third. Oklahoma State has nine top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships, and five top-five finishes, including three in the last four years. OSU’s best performance at the NCAA Championships came last year in Opelika, Ala., when the Cowgirls finished as runnerup to UCLA. OSU has two third-place finishes, which incidentally both occurred on the Stanford Golf Course, first in 1982 and then again in 1989. The Cowgirls have finished fifth in two of the last four tournaments, first in 2001 at the Mission Inn Golf & Tennis Resort, and then at the 2003 Championships in West Lafayette, Ind., at Purdue’s Kampen Golf Course. Last year, Karin Sjödin had the highest finish by a Cowgirl individual at the NCAA Championships as she finished second. It marked just the seventh time in school history that a Cowgirl had finished in the top-10 individually. Here is a look at OSU’s results at the NCAA Championships, along with top individual finish and the location of the tournament:
OSU's Results at the NCAA Championships
STROKES TOP IND YEAR FINISH SCORE BACK FINISH LOCATION 1982 3rd 1233 42 7th Stanford, Calif. 1984 21st Tarpon Springs, Fla. 1985 62nd Cape Cod, Mass. 1986 10th 1218 38 15th Columbus, Ohio 1987 6th 1203 16 5th Albuquerque, N.M. 1988 12th 1205 30 12th Las Cruces, N.M. 1989 3rd 1218 10 11th Stanford, Calif. 1990 16th 1277 71 33rd Hilton Head, S.C. 1991 25th Columbus, Ohio 1992 7th 1200 29 9th Tempe, Ariz. 1993 57th Athens, Ga. 1994 10th 1247 58 20th West Linn, Ore. 1995 44th Wilmington, N.C. 1998 34th Madison, Wis. 1999 12th *938 43 12th Tulsa, Okla. 2000 10th Sunriver, Ore. 2001 5th 1194 18 10th Howey in the Hills, Fla. 2002 13th 1189 25 27th Auburn, Wash. 2003 5th 1216 19 6th West Lafayette, Ind. 2004 2nd 1151 3 2nd Opelika, Ala. 2005 Sunriver, Ore. * tournament shortened to three rounds after rain affected final round
OSU vs. the Field
Oklahoma State is 113-37 overall this season, and 34-31 vs. the competition in the NCAA Championships. OSU has not beaten Duke (0-4), Florida (0-2), Furman (0-2), Tulane (0-2) or Virginia (0-1), but is undefeated against Stanford (5-0), Texas A&M (4-0), Missouri (2-0), Purdue (2-0), Michigan State (1-0) and UC-Irvine (1-0). Oklahoma State has a losing record vs. Tennessee (1-4), Pepperdine (1-3), UCLA (1-3) and Washington (1-2). However, the Cowgirls lone wins against both Tennessee and UCLA came at the NCAA Fall Preview on the Meadows Course, and their victories over Pepperdine and Washington came in Seattle, Wash.
Oklahoma State wins Big 12 Championships
Cowgirl senior Annie Thurman-Young recorded three sub-par rounds, winning the individual title by 10 strokes and leading the Cowgirls to their fourth Big 12 Championship in five years. Thurman shot 70-71-71 for a 212 total, 10 strokes better than a pair of Texas Longhorns that finished in second place. OSU defeated UT by one stroke. Sophomore Candie Herrera earned all-tournament honors with her sixth-place finish, while junior Karin Sjödin and sophomore Mallorie Underwood both finished in the top 20. It was Oklahoma State’s 19th conference title overall, and the Cowgirls’ three-round total of 900 was the lowest team score in Big 12/Big Eight history. It also marked the third time in nine years of the Big 12 Conference that the winning margin was one stroke.
More on Thurman-Young’s Performance
Annie Thurman-Young became the first golfer in the league to win back-to-back individual titles since the late 1980s, when Oklahoma State’s Eva Dahloff garnered medalist honors in 1987, ‘88 and 1989 in the Big Eight days. Thurman-Young is just the third women’s golfer to earn back-to-back titles in Big Eight/Big 12 history, the others being the aforementioned Dahloff and former Cowgirl Alicia Ogrin in 1978 and ‘79. Thurman-Young is the sixth golfer in league history to win multiple individual titles. The others are all Cowgirls: Ogrin (1978-79), Val Skinner (1980, 82), Robin Hood (1984, 86), Dahloff (1987-88-89), and Maria Bodén (1999, 2001). OSU has had the individual medalist 21 times in the sports’ 30 years of league championship play.
OSU Golfers Garner League Honors
Senior Annie Thurman-Young was named the Big 12 Conference’s Golfer of the Year, it was announced at the pretournament banquet. It is just the fourth time in the league’s nine-year history that a Cowgirl has garnered that award. Maria Bodén won the accolade thrice, from 1999-2001. Thurman and junior Karin Sjödin were both named first-team All-Big 12, the fourth time in league history that two Cowgirls have made the first team. It marks the second time each player has made the first team, and the third time they’ve both been named All-Big 12.
McGraw Named Big 12 Coach of the Year
In his first year at the helm of the Cowgirl Golf program, Coach Mike McGraw was named the Big 12 Conference’s Coach of the Year in a vote of the league coaches. It is the first time a Cowgirl coach has received the honor since 1999, when Ann Pitts garnered the accolade. Pitts won the award in both 1998 and 1999. In McGraw’s first season, the Cowgirls have won two tournaments and finished in the top three on four occasions. OSU has been ranked in the top-10 nationally all season long.
Cowgirls Earn Academic Accolades
Three Cowgirls earned Academic All-Big 12 honors, it was announced earlier this week. Junior Karin Sjödin and sophomore Ali Griffin were named first-team Academic All-Big 12, while sophomore Mallorie Underwood earned second-team accolades. Sjödin is majoring in general business, while Griffin is majoring in journalism & broadcasting. Underwood has not declared a major.
Cowgirls Rank High Nationally
Based on the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Ratings Index, the Cowgirls rank among the best in the nation individually. Annie Thurman-Young and Karin Sjödin rank fourth and sixth, respectively, in the national rankings. Mallorie Underwood ranks 81st nationally, while Candie Herrera is No. 217 and Ali Griffin ranks 357th nationally.
OSU Strength of Schedule Ranks in Top 10
Based on the Golfweek/ Sagarin Performance Ratings Index, Oklahoma State’s schedule this season is the seventh-toughest in the nation. The only Big 12 school ranked ahead of the Cowgirls is Texas, which is in the No. 2 spot. Arizona is first, while Vanderbilt, USC and South Carolina round out the top-five teams with the strongest strength of schedules. Oklahoma State has played in the same tournament as the other top-10 teams in the country a combined 32 times. Over 50 percent of OSU’s opponents throughout the course of the season have been foes ranked in the top 25 nationally.
What a Fall
During the fall season, junior Cowgirl Karin Sjödin competed in three tournaments for Oklahoma State. She won two of the tournaments — the Mercedes-Benz NCAA Fall Preview and the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational — and finished runnerup at the Dick McGuire Invitational. During that nine-round span, Sjödin had a 70.22 strokes per round average. That included six sub-par rounds and three rounds in the 60s (a 69 and a pair of 67s). With her 206 at the NCAA Fall Preview — a school record, Karin now owns the best two tournament totals in school history.
Thurman-Young a Top Five Contender
Cowgirl senior Annie Thurman-Young has finished in the top five individually at eight of the 10 tournaments she has competed in this year. Her best performance by far was winning her second-consecutive Big 12 Championship. She was runnerup to teammate Karin Sjödin at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational, finished fourth at both the Dick McGuire Invitational and the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, and finished fifth at the Mercedes-Benz NCAA Fall Preview, the Arizona Wildcat Invitational, the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational and the Bryan National Collegiate.
Sjödin wins NCAA Fall Preview
Cowgirl junior Karin Sjödin won the individual title at the Mercedes-Benz Women’s Fall Preview, held at the same course as this spring’s NCAA Championships. Sjödin won by one stroke over fellow Swede Louise Stahle of Arizona State. Sjödin shot 67-67-72 for a three-round total of 206. Her finish, along with Annie Thurman-Young’s tie for fifth place, led the Cowgirls to a third-place finish behind top-ranked Duke and top-10 foe Washington. Eleven of the teams competing in the NCAA Championships got a sneak preview of the course in last fall’s tournament.
Last Year’s NCAA Championships
Oklahoma State had its highest finish in school history last season with a runnerup placing at the NCAA Championships. The Cowgirls lost to UCLA by three strokes and finished eight strokes ahead of Duke. It was the lowest four-round total by a Cowgirl squad in school history, led by the lowest three 72-hole scores in the school record books. Karin Sjödin’s 279 and second-place finish were both school bests. Here is a look at the best 72-hole scores in school history, led by last year’s trio of Sjödin, Mallorie Underwood and Annie Thurman.
