The OU women’s golf team finished in 11th place Tuesday at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, as the Sooners carded a final-round 316 (+28) to finish just one stroke out of the top 10.
In a field featuring four top-25 teams, the Sooners fought windy conditions and tough hole locations to finish ahead of five other teams, including Big 12 rival and No. 49-ranked Iowa State.
Thirteen of the 16 teams competing in the classic shot higher scores in the final round than the previous day, and eight teams overall posted their highest scores of the tournament Tuesday.
Head coach Veronique Drouin cited multiple reasons for the comprehensive increase in the stroke average.
“The conditions were tough today, gusty winds and difficult hole locations made the course play a little harder,” Drouin said. “I think we need to look at the positives and move forward because we have a ton of tournaments this spring.”
No. 8 Alabama claimed the title with a final-round-best score of 290, followed by host and No. 4-ranked Purdue at 11 shots back. No. 23 Oklahoma State and No. 16 Georgia finished in third and fourth place, respectively.
No. 9-ranked Caroline Hedwall won the individual title for the Cowgirls with a 7-under-par 209 individual total to finish three strokes ahead of Georgia’s Marta Silva and Baylor’s Hannah Burke.
Oklahoma was led by junior Ellen Mueller, who continued her recent string of success by adding a 15th-place showing in Puerto Rico. In five tournaments this season, Mueller has yet to finish out of the top 15.
Mueller entered the final round tied for fifth after playing the first two rounds at 2-under-par, but shot a season-high 79 (+7) to finish the tournament with a solid three-round score of 221.
In her first tournament of the season, senior Chelsey Collins played through the blustery conditions to shoot a final round 79 and grab a tie for 46th place.
Perhaps playing as well as any Sooner on a day where the weather had a substantial effect on the outcome, senior Andrea Sellmeyer posted a team-best 76 and improved her score at each round to tie for 53rd place along with freshman teammate Taylor Schmidt.
Freshman Aly Seng finished just four strokes behind Sellmeyer and Schmidt to close out the scoring for OU in Rio Grande.
Oklahoma will have nearly three weeks off to prepare before its next scheduled tournament March 1 at the UCF Challenge in Orlando, Fla.
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