BUILDING BLOCKS – WOMEN’S GOLF

LED BY ITS SENIORS, THE WOMEN’S GOLF TEAM LOOKS FOR A FINAL PUSH IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT.

THIS SEASON WAS AN INTERESTING ONE FOR THE Texas women’s golf team and — by all indications — the craziness is far from over.

The Longhorns have the NCAA Championship on their collective minds, along with the bitter taste of their sixth-place finish at the Big 12 Championship  in mid-April.

May’s march toward a shot at the national championship was the final stretch of tournaments for four seniors — Desiree Dubreuil, Madison Pressel, Haley Stephens and Katelyn Sepmoree — a group primed to make a final, lasting impression on the collegiate golf world.

“We’re in a good place,” coach Martha Richards said. “We didn’t play as well as we wanted at the Big 12 Championship, but we hit some good shots and had some of the best wind play I’ve seen. It just didn’t translate into scoring. I think everyone is ready to step up our performances.”

After finishing 13^th in last season’s championship tournament, the team set higher expectations for 2012-13, especially with Pressel, the former…[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] Big 12 Player of the Year, returning to the fold after spending a year rehabbing a shoulder injury.

This year’s team is the second team in Richards’ six seasons at Texas that she completely hand selected, and the coach said the group has “absolutely” lived up to her expectations.

“When you’re rebuilding a program, you need players that step it up each year,” Richards explained. “Look at the volleyball program — it took [coach] Jerritt [Elliott] 12 years to win the national championship.”

“Rebuilding doesn’t happen as quickly as people think at Texas,” she added. “People think we should be able to snap our fingers and it’ll happen, but when you have a program that has fallen, it’s harder to rebuild than it is to build from scratch. It takes time.”

The time is almost up the Longhorns’ four seniors, but each one understands that they played a role in bringing the Texas program back to national prominence.

“Coach Richards’ goal was to build a team, and we’re a part of that,” Dubreuil said. “Over the past four seasons, things have become more serious and goal-oriented, and we’re a group that is driven to succeed.”

While golf is an individual sport, the players still need to develop a team culture and, according to Richards, that idea is starting to come together.

“Changing the culture takes time,” she said. “It began last spring, and it’s still a work in progress, but getting better.

A BIT OF EVERYTHING

DUBREUIL AND SEPMOREE garnered spots on the 2013 All-Big 12 Team — the first time either player earned a position on the top honor squad. But even with these accolades, Texas’ success this season came down to getting a little bit from every player and not just its star performers.

Dubreuil is the only Texas player to tee up in all nine tournaments this season and leads the Longhorns in scoring average with 74.81 strokes per round. She has garnered the best finish among her teammates in three tournaments (she once tied with freshman Tezira Abe and once with Pressel). Overall, the Longhorn seniors have posted team-bests in five of nine events.

“We have a team where everyone shoots around a half-stroke of each other, and a different player can finish first for us at almost every event,” Richards said. “What we have to do is keep that consistency going. If you look at the level this team has played at, they’ve done a good job.”

The most consistent player on this year’s team is Bertine Strauss, a sophomore from South Africa who was the top amateur women’s golfer in her native country before heading to Austin. Strauss has been the low Longhorn three times in the 2012-13 campaign (including the Big 12 Championships) and has posted four of Texas’ sub-par rounds this season — twice as many as any other player.

“It’s good for us to know that any one of us can win,” Strauss said. “We’re looking for that week when all five of us play our best golf at the same time, and I think we’re close. At the end of the season like this, we only have one shot, and that’s added motivation.”

Pressel, who right after the Big 12 Championships made her LPGA Tour debut in the North Texas LPGA Shootout at Las Colinas Country Club, is still not 100 percent — and that’s been a factor for the Longhorns this season.

“We couldn’t have predicted that Madison would earn Big 12 Player of the Year her sophomore year and then have to deal with an injury the following season,” Richards said. “She’s still trying to get her game back, but she’s stronger and closer to being there now.”

Pressel will play several Symetra Tour and LPGA Tour events this summer and go through LPGA qualifying in the fall. She says her time at Texas has prepared her for the future.

“This year has been a struggle but my ball-striking has improved,” she stated. “It’s been an interesting four years — I’ve had my share of successes and disappointments. I’m coming out of my time at Texas as a much better player.”

TOGETHER AGAIN FOR THE LAST TIME

PLAYING FOR TEXAS can prove both a blessing and a burden, but the players wouldn’t trade their experience for anything.

“Just coming to Texas is an honor, but you have a responsibility,” Strauss said. “We’re like a family — everyone is there to support each other, and that makes it much easier.”

“The best part of being here is the support Texas gives us to push for success,” Dubreuil added. “I get to enjoy the people I’m around. We do everything off the course together. These are my friends.”

Most of the Texas players have completely wiped the Big 12 Championship from their memory since that tournament was played in extreme conditions — with “real feel” temperatures in the teens and whitecaps on the lakes.

“We have to go back to the mindset of where we were before the Big 12s. We were playing better and we understand we’re better than what we showed in the conference championship,” Pressel said. “This team is close. We have been through everything together for the past four years, and we know each other inside and out.”

The Longhorns understand what they need to do to get over the hump — they have to compete and do whatever is needed to get the ball in the hole. Every shot matters.

And don’t even try to call Texas the dark horse in the NCAA Tournament.

“Texas is never a dark-horse candidate — we are Texas and everybody knows who we are because of our name,” Dubreuil said. “It’s a powerful thing and a lot to live up to. I’m excited about the end of the season. We’re confident that we’re good enough to get it done.”

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