Sooner's Women's Golf Opens Fall Play: A Weekend at Pebble Beach

[OUBeliever56A]

The Fall edition of the Oklahoma Women's Golf Team starts play this weekend at a tournament the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif. The 3-day tourney will be played on Sept 1st through the 3rd. They have five events in September and October during the fall. their next event is at the Belmar Golf Club in Norman, OK on Sept 23rd through the 25th. (Sat-Mon).

Here is the full schedule for the Sooner Women in the fall of 2023 and the Spring of 2024:

https://soonersports.com/sports/womens-golf/schedule

Here is the roster for the Sooner Women for 2023-2024:

https://soonersports.com/sports/womens- ... er/2023-24

The Sooners finished 6th in the Big 12 Conference Tourney in the Spring. Mikhaela Fortuna finished in 3rd in the individual play at the Big 12 and went on to the NCAA Regional Tourney and finished in the Top 15.

The Sooners will have to replace Mikhaela and three other golfers from last years squad. Fortuna lead the Sooners in stroke average and # of rounds at 72.93 in 28 rounds in 2023. Maria Fernanda Martinez played in 15 rounds and had a stroke average of 74.93. Megan Winans played 12 rounds and averaged 76.17 strokes. Madison played in 3 rounds and averaged 72.00 per round while playing in the Belmar Tourney last fall.

The Sooners have 7 players returning along with 1 new transfer and 1 new freshman.

SR - Nina Lang (xfer from Baylor) - 18 rounds with a 75.05 stroke average (low score of 213 for 3 rounds)
SR - Kaylee Vesely - 24 rounds with a 73.28 stroke average (low score of 211 for 3 rounds)
JR - xfer from OCityU - Reagan Chaney - 6 rounds with a 75.67 stroke average (low score of 230 for 3 rounds)
SOPH - Savannah Barber - 24 rounds with a stroke average of 74.63 (low score of 212 for 3 rounds)
SOPH - Raychel Nelke - 21 rounds with a stroke average of 76.05 (low score of 209 for 3 rounds)
SOPH - Emily Hun - 12 rounds with a stroke average of 77.33 (low score of 219 for 3 rounds)
SOPH - Gracie Mayo - 3 rounds with a stroke average of 74.67 (low score of 224 for 3 rounds)
SOPH - Isabella Schlick - xfer from Lynn University - at Lynn she had a stroke average of 73.75 and advance to the NCAA Individual play to reach the quarterfinals.
FR - Holly McLean - during high school in the Cayman Islands she played well in Caribbean JR and Amatuer events.

Finding a TRUE #1 player is a key for the Sooners. Last year several players filled that role and almost each week the player struggled. To me it seemed that the Sooners had several #2/#3 players that could play well. But if one was slotted into the #1 role and playing against those players, they had trouble. Fortuna probably had the best success as the #1 player in the spring of 2023 but she was more of a very good #2 player than a #1. I would guess that Barber, Nelke, Lang, Vesely and maybe Schlick will be in the top 5 players for 2023-2024. But Hun, McLean and Mayo will probably see action. Each Sooner will play in the home event at Belmar in their second event of the fall.

(Edit: I failed to mention Reagan Chaney in the list of players that will compete for the Top 5 players above.)

Good luck this weekend at Pebble Beach to the women!

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Sooner staff writers have provided this preview of the Carmel Cup in Pebble Beach, Calif, at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Sept. 1-3 for the Sooner Women's Golf Team.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/8/30 ... carmel-cup

Oklahoma Lineup (Tee TImes-CST)
1. Savannah Barber - 9:28
2. Nina Lang - 9:20 AM
3. Reagan Chaney - 9:12 AM
4. Isabelle Schlick - 8:56 AM
5. Gracie Mayo - 8:48 AM
6. Emily Hun - 8:40 AM

It might a surprise that both Nelke and Vesely are not in the 6-woman lineup for the Sooners. They had the two lowest 3 round totals in 2022 for the Sooners and 209 and 211 respectively It looks like Hun and Mayo took the spots instead. This weekend could be the first look at Pebble for Chaney, Schlick, Mayo and Hun.

In play last year at the Carmel Cup, Lang shot a consistent 225 playing in the #1 spot. Barber (#4 spot) settled in after a high 1st round to shoot back-to-back 75's in the final two rounds. Nelke (#2 spot) struggled at Pebble with a 242. Last year the Sooners finished 7th out of the 8 teams that played.

Good luck to the Sooners today as they walk the beautiful seaside course at Carmel.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooner Women's Golf Team was a half good and half not-so-good on Friday at the Carmel Cup at Pebble Beach Golf Club. As a team the Sooners shot a 387 (27-over par) for the day and are in 8th place in the 8-team Tourney. Stanford and Arkansas lead the 8 teams with 8-under and 7-under par.

Savanna Barber playing in the #1 spot was better than good. She was excellent! She shot a very nice 4-under par for a 68 to lead the Sooners in fine fashion. Her 68 also placed her in a T-3rd in the Individual portion of the tourney. I think she had 6 birdies and only 2 bogeys on the day. Barber was 4-under on the front nine and played Even on the back nine. (I have not been able to get the 'Spikemark' app to load since yesterday afternoon. But that should be right from what I logged at one point.)

Reagan Chaney and Isabella Schlick both played well themselves on Friday as they both shot 4-over par 76's. They were playing in the #3 and #4 spots for OU. Chaney was 3-over on the front nine and 1 over on the back. I think she had 2 birdies and 6 bogeys on the day. Schlick played the front nine in 4-over and the back nine Even. Both players closed their round well. I know Schlick had one double bogey and 1 birdie at one point from my notes. She dropped 3 shots to par after that. The Friday round was the first round as a Sooner for Schlick as she transferred in from Lynn University.

The other three Sooners had long days. Emily Hun playing as the #6 Sooner, shot an 83 for an 11-over round. I know I saw that on a Par 5, Hun posted a double-par score of a 10. For her to be 5-over on one hole, she played pretty solid golf the over other 17 holes as she dropped 6 shots to par over those holes. Hun shot 5-over on the front nine and 6-over (with that 10) on the back nine. Gracie Mayo, playing only her 4th round as a Sooner and in the #5 spot, shot 12-over par for an 84. Mayo shot 7-over on the front and 5 over on the back nine. Nina Lang shot an 85 on the day. She was 7-over on the front and 6-over on the back.

The team score suffered as the Sooners had to count two scores of 83 or higher. Those strokes are very hard to make up in the final two scores. But, with 3 players playing to only 4-over par is a good sign for the Sooners after day one. Oklahoma just has to get two others player's going on Saturday.

Good luck to the Sooner Women today at Pebble Beach.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about Day 1 at the Carmel Cup.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/9/1/ ... irst-round

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners, as a team, had a much better Day 2 at the Carmel Cup than they had on Day 1. The Team score improved 17 shots as they posted a 370 team score. They are still in 8th place out of 8 teams however.

Individually, Savannah Barber continued her very strong play with her second straight sub-par round as she shot 2-under on Saturday. She is in 5th place after two days with a rounds of 68 and 70. Barber has now played all four nines in Even-Par or better as she shot 2-under on the front nine and Even-Par on the back on Saturday.

Reagan Chaney improved by 3 strokes on Day 2 as she shot a nice 1-over, 73. She is tied for 31st. Isabella Schlick shot her second straight 76 on Day 2 and is tied for 37th. Nina Lang showed the most improvement of the Sooners as she rebounded very well to shoot a 2-over par 74 on Day 2. Lang improved her score by 11 shots over her Day 1 performance. That is a very tough thing to do in golf. Emily Hun shot 5-over par on Saturday which was 6 shots better than her 1st round. Gracie Mayo shot a 78 on Saturday which was 6 shots better than her 1st round. It is nice to see all six Sooners post scores of 78 or better on Day 2.

Team Results
1. Stanford, --14 (706)
2. Arkansas, -13 (707)
3. Texas A&M, -6 (714)
4. Mississippi State, +2 (722)
5. Vanderbilt, +12 (732)
6. Oklahoma State, +13 (733)
7. Texas Tech, +15 (735)
8. Oklahoma, +37 (757)

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about Day 2 at the Carmel Cup.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/9/2/ ... rber-fifth

Good luck to the Women today at Pebble Beach.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

[OUBeliever56A]

The Oklahoma Sooners wrapped up their first tournament of the fall season at Pebble Beach at the Carmel Cup with their best round of the tourney as the Sooners shot 368, 8-over, for the day. On Sunday, 3 Sooners shot 73, 1-over or better, on the day which is a very nice sign for the Sooners. The Sooners did finish 8th out of the 8 teams at the tourney as they shot 45-over par for the Tourney at 1,125 strokes for three rounds.

Here is the Sooner staff writers article about the final round.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/9/3/ ... -in-top-10

The positive headline of the tourney for the Sooners was the play of Sophomore Savannah Barber who finished in a T6 at 5-under par with a total of 211. Barber posted rounds of 68, 70 and 73 during the 3 days and played very consistent strong golf. Barber was one of the top performers as a freshman for the Sooners. She has started off her sophomore season very well.

On Sunday, another sophomore, Emily Hun shot a 2-under, 70, for the only other Sooner to shoot an under-par round for the Sooners at Pebble Beach. After an opening round of 83 (which included a 10 on a par 5) she improved to a 77 on Saturday and finished with her 70 on Sunday for a 230 total of 14-over par for the tourney. Hun was the 2nd best Sooner during the last two days of play.

Isabella Schlick and Reagan Chaney, two more sophomores, were perhaps the most consistent Sooners behind Barber's excellent play. The two Sooners shot 2 rounds of 76 an one round of 73 during the tourney for a 9-over, 225 total. The tourney was the transfer's first appearance as a Sooner for Schlick.

Gracie Mayo, another sophomore, improved her play each day as she shot an 84, 78 and 76 each day for a 238 total of 22-over par.

Nina Lang, a senior, had a one strong round with two days that were a bit off. She shot an 85, 74 and an 82 for the Sooners for a 25-over par tourney at 241.

The Sooners will return home for their own tournament, The Schooner Fall Classic, that will be played at the Belmar Golf Club on Sept 23rd thru the 25th (Sat-Sun). I was unable to get out to watch the Sooner Women play last year. I will make a point of being out there this year. Usually each of the Sooners play in this tourney. It is a good opportunity to see each of the Sooners play. With nine players on the team, 5 will play on the Sooner-team with 4 playing as individuals.

It is a great start for Barber as she led the Sooners in their first fall tourney!

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]