USAO’s women’s golf team stamped their names in the history books Tuesday, Oct. 3 as the team won their first tournament in program history at the Battle at Winter Creek tournament. The Drovers battled four other teams through two rounds in the beginning of this week, and even has two Drovers tie for first place. Winter Creek Golf and Country Club (Par 72, 6034 yards) hosted the tournament in Blanchard.
The Drovers shot 654 (+70) as a team to earn their fist team tournament win. Southwestern Christian University (SWOSU) sat 24 strokes behind USAO for 2nd place. In 3rd place, Central Baptist College (CBC) shot 746 (+162).
The team was comprised of eight players; Five player’s scores went towards the team score while the remaining three played as individuals. Emma Fields, Hudson Woloss, Alix Schueneman, Addysyn Asmus, and Moriah Shropshire contributed to the team’s score.
Shropshire and Woloss had an afternoon for themselves on their final round as the ladies went head-to-head in a playoff situation to find the winner of the tournament. Leading up to the playoff situation, Woloss shot rounds of 74 (+2) and 85 (+13). In comparison to Shropshire’s 81 (+9) and 78 (+6). To determine the tournament’s winner, the ladies teed off on hole 18, in which Shropshire sent her drive down the middle. Woloss set her ball up close to Shropshire’s. Yet, Shropshire had chipped her way into an easy birdie putt for the title of champion. In the stats column, both ladies share a tied first place title.
“It feels pretty great to be able to defend our home course with a win,” Shropshire said. “I played my golf game really well yesterday and today, which made it a really calm two days with little frustration.”
Other Drovers weren’t far behind, including Schueneman who earned a 5th place finish by shooting rounds of 84 (+12) and 82 (+10). Fields was two places behind her at 7th with scores of 87 (+15) and 86 (+14). To wrap up the team’s scores, Asmus finished 13th by tallying scores of 84 (+12) and 95 (+23), including two birdies in her first round.
USAO’s three individual players, including Adde Glass, Emilee Slovak, and Kiera Stehr, stayed close to their teammates as well. Glass tied for 8th place by shooting 85 (+13) and 90 (+18). Stehr tied for 10th place with scores of 92 (+20) and 85 (+13). Slovak posted 91 (+19) in round one and did not post a second-round score.
“Any athlete’s goal is to be better than they were yesterday,” Shropshire said, as she looked towards the team’s next tournament. “But it doesn’t get better than first.”
USAO will use this momentum in their next tournament, Evangel Fall Invite, which is hosted at the Fremont Hills Country Club in Mixa, MO from Monday, Oct. 16 through Tuesday, Oct. 17.
Emily Loughridge is a third-year communication major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.