Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirl Golfers to Compete in Big 12 Championships
April 14, 2006 | Cowgirl Golf
18th-ranked Oklahoma State
at the 10th Annual
Big 12 Championships
Mon.-Wed., April 17-19
Country Club of Lincoln
Lincoln, Neb.
54-hole stroke play
par 72 • 6,158 yards
Oklahoma State Golfers
Golfer Class Height Handed Rds-Stks Average Pernilla Lindberg Fr. 5-5 Right 21-1562 74.38 Karin Kinnerud Fr. 5-3 Right 24-1824 76.00 Candie Herrera Jr. 5-5 Right 18-1369 76.06 Mallorie Underwood Jr. 5-7 Right 24-1852 77.17 Jennifer Karr Sr. 5-8 Right 21-1627 77.48
Cowgirls to Compete in Big 12 Championships
Oklahoma State’s Cowgirl Golf team will travel to Lincoln, Neb., to compete in the 10th annual Big 12 Championships, hosted by the University of Nebraska. The tournament will be held at the Country Club of Lincoln on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, April 17-19, with a practice round on Sunday, April 16. OSU will look to win its fifth league title in six years after having won the 2005 tournament by one stroke over Texas on the Longhorns’ home course, 2003 tournament by one stroke over Missouri, the 2002 championship by three strokes over Oklahoma, and the 2001 title by six strokes over runnerup Texas. Oklahoma State has won five of the nine Big 12 Championships, and has won 19 conference titles in all. The Cowgirls will compete in Group 1 on Monday along with Texas Tech and Colorado. The tournament will begin at 8 a.m. each day on the 6,158-yard, par-72 course.
Oklahoma State at the Big 12 Championships
Oklahoma State’s women’s golf team has finished in the top five in all nine previous Big 12 Championships, including victories in 1999, 2001-03 and 2005. In four of the five years that OSU won the team title, a Cowgirl won individual medalist honors as well. In both 1999 and 2001, Maria Bodén won the individual title and, in 2002, Emma Zackrisson took home the individual trophy. Annie Thurman-Young was the individual medalist the past two seasons.
History at the Conference Championships
In the 30 year history of the Big Eight/Big 12 Championships, Oklahoma State has won the team title an impressive 19 times, including six consecutive from 1984-89. Twenty Cowgirls have won individual medalist honors, including nine consecutive from 1982-90. Excluding the inaugural season of each league (1976 for the Big Eight, 1997 for the Big 12), OSU has never finished lower than third place, and has finished either as champion or runnerup on 25 occasions.
2005 Big 12 Championships Recap
Annie Thurman-Young won her second-consecutive Big 12 individual title and Oklahoma State outdistanced the Texas Longhorns on their home course as the Cowgirls won their fourth league championship in five seasons. OSU won the team title by one stroke over the ‘Horns, but Thurman-Young’s performance was dominating, garnering the individual medalist honors by 10 strokes over her nearest competitor. Candie Herrera finished sixth, earning Big 12 All-Tournament honors along with Thurman-Young. Karin Sjödin finished 12th, while Mallorie Underwood finished 18th, giving the Cowgirls four top-20 finishers. Ali Griffin finished 56th overall for Oklahoma State. It marked the third time in the nine-year history of the Big 12 Championships that the winning team won by just one stroke. OSU defeated Missouri, 909-910, on the Tigers’ home course in 2003, while the Oklahoma Sooners defeated the Cowgirls, 916-917, in Lubbock, Texas, in 2000.
Cowgirls Rank High in the Big 12
Based on the Golfweek/ Sagarin Performance Ratings Index, the Cowgirls rank among the best in the Big 12 individually. Pernilla Lindberg and Candie Herrera rank second and third, respectively, among Big 12 golfers. Karin Kinnerud ranks sixth in the Big 12 Conference, while Mallorie Underwood and Jennifer Karr both rank among the top-25 golfers in the league.
Five League Titles is Most in Big 12 Golf
Oklahoma State Cowgirl Golf has won more Big 12 team titles than any other golf team in the league, men’s or women’s. OSU is one of 15 individual teams that has won at least half of the Big 12’s championships in their respective sports. Should the Cowgirls win this year’s Big 12 Championships, they will become the sixth women’s team to win six or more league championships since the Big 12 formed in 1996. They will also become the 11th team, men’s or women’s, to have accomplished that feat.
OSU vs. the Field
Oklahoma State is a 20-2 overall vs. the Big 12 opponents in head-to-head competition this season. OSU is 5-0 vs. Texas, and 3-0 against both Oklahoma and Kansas. The Cowgirls are 2-0 vs. Baylor and Iowa State, and 1-0 against Colorado, Kansas State, Missouri and Nebraska. The only team that has beaten OSU from the Big 12 this season is Texas A&M, which is 1-2 vs. the Cowgirls. Over the last six years, Oklahoma State is an impressive 169-22-1 (88.3 percent) vs. the Big 12 Conference. That includes a 46-7 mark in 2000-01, a 35-7 record in 2001-02, a 22-3 mark in 2002-03, a 16-3-1 record in 2003-04 and a 30-0 mark last season.
OSU Schedule Strength Ranks in Top 10
Based on the Golfweek/ Sagarin Performance Ratings Index, Oklahoma State’s schedule this season is the ninth-toughest in the nation. The only Big 12 school ranked ahead of the Cowgirls is Texas, which is in the No. 4 spot. Washington, Arizona and Arizona State of the Pac-10 hold the top-three spots. Oklahoma State has played in the same tournament as the other top-10 teams in the country a combined 25 times.
Top Freshman in School History?
A career is certainly not made up of just one season, but the beginning of freshman Pernilla Lindberg’s career is definitely a good way to start. The newcomer from Bollnäs, Sweden, is already ahead of her predecessors. Her 74-38 strokes-per-round average already ranks among the top-five seasons in school history. It is also 0.56 strokes better than Karin Sjödin’s average as a freshman and 1.41 strokes better than Maria Bodén’s average as a rookie. Those two just happen to hold the No. 1 and 2 spots in career stroke average in OSU history. She is also just the fourth freshman in the storied history of Cowgirl golf to have won a tournament in her initial season. In her last three tournaments, Lindberg has finished in the top six in all three, including a third-place finish at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational, a sixth place outing at the Bryan National Collegiate, and medalist honors at the Susie Maxwell Berning Classic.
The Swedish Pipeline
Oklahoma State has been extremely successful in bringing talented golfers from the country of Sweden to Stillwater. It all began in the mid-1980s when Eva Dahllof and Katrin Mollerstedt hopped on a plane to the United States. With the addition of freshmen Pernilla Lindberg and Karin Kinnerud to this year’s squad, there have now been 13 Swedes that have worn the Cowgirl uniform. Several have been very successful at the collegiate and professional levels. Dahllof, Maria Bodén and Karin Sjödin have all garnered first-team All-America honors while at OSU. Charlotta Eliasson, Emma Zackrisson and Linda Wessberg have all been named as All-Americans as well.
Name Hometown Years at OSU Katrin Mollerstedt Arild 1986-87 Eva Dahllof Ornskoldsvik 1986-89 Jennifer Allmark Hallefors 1989 Charlotta Eliasson Hassleholm 1991-94 Petra Rigby Akarp 1992 Anna Lindblom Askim 1995-98 Eva-Lotta Stromlid Askim 1996-99 Maria Boden Harnosand 1998-2001 Emma Zackrisson Holmsund 1999-2002 Linda Wessberg Vastra Frolunda 2000-03 Karin Sjodin Gothenburg 2003-05 Pernilla Lindberg Bollnas 2006-present Karin Kinnerud Norrkoping 2006-present
OSU to Host League Tournament in 2008
Oklahoma State will host the 2008 Big 12 Women’s Golf Championships on Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. Next year, the tournament will be held in Waco, Texas.
On the Schedule Next for Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State will compete in one of three NCAA Regional sites, May 11-13. A total of 21 teams and three individuals will be selected to compete at each regional. The three regional sites are: East Regional — Bryan Park Golf Course, Browns Summit, N.C.; Central Regional — Traditions at Texas A&M, College Station, Texas; West Regional — Washington National Golf Club, Auburn, Wash. The top eight teams and top two individuals not affiliated with those eight teams at each regional site will advance to the NCAA Championships. The national championship event will be held at the Scarlet Golf Course in Columbus, Ohio, May 23-26.
