Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirls Finish 14th at NCAA Championships
May 26, 2007 | Cowgirl Golf
The 14th-place outing was an improvement over last year's 18th-place finish in Coach Laura Matthews' first season as head coach of the Cowgirls. It marked OSU's seventh-consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships. Oklahoma State has finished in the top-15 in seven of the last nine national tournaments.
“I've had a good first two years,” said Matthews following Friday's final round. “I think we've made improvements. The team has gotten better each year. We've got a bright future ahead of us with three sophomores and a freshman coming back.
“Hopefully, they've gained more experience (by their appearance at the NCAA Championships). We need to talk about it and see what they did learn. The next two years need to be more productive and we've got to accomplish the goals that we set for ourselves.”
Duke won its third-consecutive team title by 15 strokes over second-place Purdue. UCLA finished third, while USC and Stanford round out the top-five teams. Arkansas' Stacy Lewis won the individual title by four strokes. Lewis was playing as an individual because the Razorbacks failed to advance through regionals.
Sophomore Karin Kinnerud led the Cowgirls for the second-straight season at nationals, finishing 21st individually. Fellow sophomore Pernilla Lindberg finished 50th, while freshman Sarah Bradley finished 60th. Sophomore Amanda Johnson tied senior Mallorie Underwood for 97th place.
This week also marked the final collegiate tournament of Underwood's career. She is just the sixth Cowgirl in the schools' storied history to compete in four NCAA Championships.
“I've been really fortunate because we have made it to four-straight national championships,” said Underwood. “There are a lot of teams that even though they're good, sometimes they don't make it. Luckily, we've made it all four years that I've been here. It's been an amazing experience.”
Underwood has competed in 42-of-44 tournaments over her four-year career and has always put the team's accomplishments over her individual accolades.
“Mallorie is a great team player,” Matthews said. “She cared so much about the team and her teammates. Mallorie has a great outlook for college golf. She really enjoyed the team atmosphere and we'll definitely miss her leadership next year. She did a wonderful job of mentoring the younger girls.”
Next season, Oklahoma State returns four starters off a squad that was ranked sixth nationally.
UPDATE: Late Friday evening at the annual NGCA Awards Banquet, the Cowgirls picked up a couple of individual awards. Sophomore Pernilla Lindberg was named to the Duramed FUTURES tour NGCA All-America first team. The Swedish native was also named All-West Region, along with sophomore teammate Amanda Johnson. Lindberg, Johnson and fellow sophomore Karin Kinnerud were among the student-athletes honored for their work in the classroom as well, and will be recognized as members of the NGCA All-Scholar team later this summer.
NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships
LPGA International – Legends Course
Daytona Beach, Fla.
May 22-25, 2007
Team Results 1. Duke 300-287-293-290--1170 2. Purdue 303-294-291-297--1185 3. UCLA 303-291-299-293--1186 4. USC 295-306-304-291--1196 5. Stanford 299-300-304-294--1197 6. Vanderbilt 303-302-298-297--1200 7. Pepperdine 306-299-300-297--1202 8. Georgia 303-299-300-303--1205 9. Auburn 309-304-300-300--1213 10. Louisville 297-306-307-304--1214 11. TCU 307-299-300-309--1215 12. Wake Forest 306-300-306-305--1217 13. Arizona State 307-298-311-305--1221 14. Oklahoma State 312-299-310-305--1226 Arizona 304-314-298-310--1226 16. Michigan State 310-307-312-303--1232 17. BYU 309-306-315-306--1236 Tennessee 311-313-308-304--1236 19. UC Irvine 303-314-316-308--1241 20. Denver 302-324-311-307--1244 21. North Carolina 297-321-311-319--1248 22. New Mexico 305-314-320-315--1254 23. Alabama 314-319-319-311--1263 24. Indiana 320-318-323-310--1271
Individual Results 1. Stacy Lewis, Arkansas 71-71-74-66--282 2. Christel Boeljon, Purdue 72-69-69-76--286 Paola Moreno, USC 73-72-70-71--286 4. Amanda Blumenhurst, Duke 70-73-74-72--289 5. Tiffany Joh, UCLA 73-70-76-72--291
OSU Scores 21. Karin Kinnerud 75-74-77-74--300 50. Pernilla Lindberg 77-78-75-76--306 60. Sarah Bradley 80-73-81-74--308 97. Mallorie Underwood 82-75-78-83--318 97. Amanda Johnson 80-77-80-81--318
