Aggie Golfers Compete in SAC Championship Tournament

Oklahoma City—The Panhandle State men’s and women’s golf teams wrapped up their 2017-18 seasons this week at the Sooner Athletic Conference Golf Championships in Oklahoma City April 20-24.

The women competed April 20-22 on the 6,020-yard, par-72 West Course at Lincoln Park. Aggies Rylee Higgins and D’Lanee Doyle turned in combined scores of 201 and 304 respectively to place T41 and 44 overall. The two-round tournament was delayed on Saturday due to weather, drawing it into a three-day event. Texas Wesleyan’s Alex Schies shot the low score in both rounds (73, 74) to take first place individually; Schies finished three-over par for the tournament to help her team earn the title of Conference Champions. As a team the Rams totaled round scores of 305 and 309 for the first place finish. Team placings for the remainder of the field were as follows: Oklahoma City-2nd, Southwestern Christian-3rd, St. Thomas-4th, Houston-Victoria-5th, Central Christian-6th, and University of the Southwest-7th.

Head Coach Dewayne Mauldin shared his assessment on the women’s rounds, “The first round the ladies had to deal with windy and cold conditions. I was proud of Rylee Higgins and D’Lanee Doyle on how they handled the adverse elements. The second round got rained out and the third round was wet and cool when we started, but half way through the round the sun started coming out and it warmed up.” He added, “The ladies played their hearts out, but just could not string good holes together. I was very proud of their effort.”

The Aggie men were up against some tough contenders, with six golfers shooting below par for the tournament. The three-round men’s tournament took place April 23-24 at the Gallardia Country Club in OKC. The course length was 7,255 yards with a par of 72. Freshmen Karsten Harris and Chandler Evans turned in the lowest scores for the Aggies to tie at 28th place individually. Both marked 84in round one on Monday and Harrison held the team low for the tournament with an 81 in round two; Evans shaved off one stroke to notch an 83 in Monday’s second outing. The pair finished out shooting 87 and 85 in round three on Tuesday. Junior Lucas Heathington carded the team low in round one with an 82, and went on to match scores of 86 in the final two rounds, placing T31 overall. Sergi Teller and Joshua Rouse each shot well in round three with team-low scores of 84 on Tuesday. Teller finished the event at T33 and Rouse placed 35th individually. As a team the Aggies ended seventh among the seven-team field. Oklahoma City took the team title scoring 290, 281, 280; and Wayland Baptist’s Paul Zwanzig earned the individual conference championship, shooting four-under par with scores of 72, 72 and 68.

“Wind was also a factor for the men throughout the 36-hole stretch on Monday”, Mauldin offered. “The guys got off to a pretty good start with Chandler Evans when he birdied the first hole. As the team started playing into the wind we started to have a little trouble getting the ball in the cup. The team regrouped and had some success on the back nine. I was very proud on how they kept their composure and kept fighting. On day two the weather finally cooperated and it was absolutely gorgeous! The team played pretty well, but were too far back to catch up.”

Coach Mauldin concluded with optimism for the year ahead stating, “This year’s team is a young team with some inexperience. I am really looking forward to the fall with this group. With some experience this year they will be better prepared going into the fall. I expect good things in the future!”