Freshman Leading Cowgirl Golf Into Stanford Intercollegiate

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Oklahoma State University

Stanford Intercollegiate

Freshman Leading Cowgirl Golf Into Stanford Intercollegiate

October 13, 2017 | Cowgirl Golf

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – It took the Oklahoma State women's golf team about a month to turn the Golfweek preseason national rankings on their head.

On Sept. 5, the Cowgirls entered the season in the No. 24 spot, but a victory in their season opening event saw them jump to No. 14 and then to No. 8. A second-place finish in the always-tough Windy City Collegiate gave OSU an NCAA-best 21-1 record against top-50 teams, which helped them surge three more spots to No. 5.

And while the OSU senior class features two of the country's top 20 players, it's a freshman that's at the heart of the Cowgirl resurgence over the last month.

Stephanie Astrup has carded five of her first six collegiate rounds under par and is currently ranked by Golfweek as the No. 33 player in the country.

She opened her career with a 71, which is the lowest debut round for an OSU freshman since Pernilla Lindberg in 2005. Astrup followed up that with rounds of 73 and 72 to finish at even par 216, which is the lowest 54-hole score by an OSU freshman in her debut since Caroline Hedwall in 2008.

Two weeks later, Astrup once again drew comparisons to Hedwall when she went even-par 71-71-71 to finish seventh at the Windy City, which dropped her season stroke average to a cool 71.50. Hedwall currently has the best stroke average by a Cowgirl freshman at 72.94 in 2008-09.

"I was nervous, but it was huge for me to play in these first two events," Astrup said. "I worked really hard this summer and I've played good over these last three or four months, and I think it's paying off now. Steady golf because of steady and consistent practice."

Astrup and the Cowgirls will look to further impress the golf world at the Stanford Intercollegiate, which is being played at the famed Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, Calif.

The Event
Event: Stanford Intercollegiate
Host: Stanford University
Date: October 16-18, 2017
Site / Course: Poppy Hills Golf Course
Par / Yardage: 71 / 6,069
Format: 3 rounds of 18-hole stroke play
Cowgirl Stats & Notes
Live Scoring: Golfstat.com
Notable: This will be OSU's 10th appearance in the Stanford Intercollegiate. The Cowgirls won the event in 1988. Last year, OSU finished ninth after the final round was cancelled due to rain.

The Cowgirls
1. Kenzie Neisen
2. Stephanie Astrup
3. Emma Broze
4. Chih-Min Chen
5. Alexis Sadeghy

The Field (Golfweek Ranking)
No. 4 UCLA
No. 5 Oklahoma State
No. 8 Stanford
No. 13 Northwestern
No. 22 Iowa State
No. 23 Florida State
No. 35 Washington
No. 36 Pepperdine
No. 44 San Jose State
No. 48 Oregon
No. 50 Cal
No. 75 Georgia
No. 90 UC Davis
No. 110 Cal Poly