No. 17 OSU Women seek eighth Big 12 Championship

The 54-hole event begins on Friday and will run through Sunday with 18 holes being played each day at the par-70, 6,510-yard layout. The Cowgirls enter the event as the No. 2 seed and will be paired with top-seeded Texas A&M. First-round action is slated to get underway at 8 a.m.
 
First-year head coach Alan Bratton has led the Cowgirls to a pair of victories and a No. 17 ranking in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.
 
OSU's lineup will be led by junior Kelsey Vines, who currently stands as the top-ranked player in the Big 12 at No. 21 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. The BYU transfer has a pair of individual victories to her credit with wins at the Windy City Invitational and the BYU at Entrada Classic.
 
Joining Vines in the lineup will be sophomore Jayde Panos, senior Jocelyn Alford, sophomore Amy Ruengmateekhun and freshman Courtney Ferguson.
 
The Cowgirls have seven Big 12 crowns to their credit with their most recent coming in 2009 at The Rawls Course in Lubbock, Texas. OSU first won the event in 1999 in Boulder, Colo. The Cowgirls then reeled off three consecutive championships starting with their victory in 2001 in Harvester,Iowa. After winning the 2002 tourney in Manhattan, Kan., OSU closed out its string with its triumph in Columbia, Mo. in 2003. The Cowgirls won the 2005 title in Austin, Texas before claiming the 2008 title on their home course, Karsten Creek, in Stillwater.
 
OSU has been as successful in the individual Big 12 race as it has been in the team race, having seven players claim medalist honors during the history of the event. In 1999, Maria Bodén became the first Cowgirl to win the event and regained the title in 2001. Emma Zackrisson grabbed top honors in 2002, while Annie Thurman followed two years later with back-to-back victories in 2004 and 2005. Jaclyn Sweeney won the event in 2008 before Caroline Hedwall took top honors in 2010 to become the school's most recent champion.

The 32nd-ranked Oklahoma women's golf team concluded its 2011-12 season with four top-two finishes out of eight regular season tournaments.  Oklahoma enters the postseason as one of seven Big 12 schools ranked in the top 50 nationally.  Those schools are No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 17 Oklahoma State, No. 18 Baylor, No. 29 Texas Tech, No. 31 Texas, No. 32 OU and No. 37 Iowa State.

"This year has gone by so quickly, I can't believe we are already here at the Big 12 Championship," said OU head coach Veronique Drouin. "We are excited to be here and have been preparing for this championship since we started school in August."

Oklahoma will be led by sophomore Chirapat Jao-Javanil, starting at the No. 1 position for the seventh tournament this season. The Thailand native holds the team's lowest season stroke average with a 74.00 and has finished in the top 10 in four tournaments this year. Jao-Javanil led the Sooners in last year's Big 12 Championship by finishing in 10th place.

Anne-Catherine Tanguay will compete in the No. 2 position for the Sooners this weekend. The sophomore boasts five top-20 finishes this season, including her win at the 90-competitor Susie Maxwell Berning Classic in the fall.

Junior Taylor Schmidt will play out of the No. 3 spot. Schmidt has finished in the top 20 three times this season and holds a 75.17 stroke average.

Starting in the No. 4 position will be sophomore Emily Collins, who missed OU's first two tournaments of the year due to illness. Collins has recorded one top-20 finish this season and carries a 76.56 stroke average and was recently named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team.

Rounding out the Sooners' lineup in the No. 5 spot is junior Jacki Marshall. Marshall, in her first year at OU after transferring from Tyler (Texas) Junior College, tied for 18th at the Texas A&M "Mo"Morial this season and also shot a career-best 72 at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic.

Texas captured its third Conference crown in 2011 with a three-round total of 872. The Longhorns also won the Big 12 Championship in 1997 and 2004. Oklahoma State has captured seven overall Conference titles, while Texas A&M holds four titles. OU is the only other team to win the title (2000). Last season, Madison Pressel of UT earned her first Big 12 individual title with a score of 208. Each season the top 10 individual finishers are named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team.

The Big 12 Women's Golf Championship will determine both team and individual champions. Five golfers shall compose a team. A daily team score is computed by totaling the lowest scores of four of the five members. The final team score is determined by totaling each daily score.

The 2012 Championship shall be a total of 54 holes played over three days, with 18 holes each day.
 
The 54-hole event begins on Friday and will run through Sunday with 18 holes being played each day at the par-70, 6,510-yard layout. The Cowgirls enter the event as the No. 2 seed and will be paired with top-seeded Texas A&M. First-round action is slated to get underway at 8 a.m.
 
First-year head coach Alan Bratton has led the Cowgirls to a pair of victories and a No. 17 ranking in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.
 
OSU's lineup will be led by junior Kelsey Vines, who currently stands as the top-ranked player in the Big 12 at No. 21 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. The BYU transfer has a pair of individual victories to her credit with wins at the Windy City Invitational and the BYU at Entrada Classic.
 
Joining Vines in the lineup will be sophomore Jayde Panos, senior Jocelyn Alford, sophomore Amy Ruengmateekhun and freshman Courtney Ferguson.
 
The Cowgirls have seven Big 12 crowns to their credit with their most recent coming in 2009 at The Rawls Course in Lubbock, Texas. OSU first won the event in 1999 in Boulder, Colo. The Cowgirls then reeled off three consecutive championships starting with their victory in 2001 in Harvester,Iowa. After winning the 2002 tourney in Manhattan, Kan., OSU closed out its string with its triumph in Columbia, Mo. in 2003. The Cowgirls won the 2005 title in Austin, Texas before claiming the 2008 title on their home course, Karsten Creek, in Stillwater.
 
OSU has been as successful in the individual Big 12 race as it has been in the team race, having seven players claim medalist honors during the history of the event. In 1999, Maria Bodén became the first Cowgirl to win the event and regained the title in 2001. Emma Zackrisson grabbed top honors in 2002, while Annie Thurman followed two years later with back-to-back victories in 2004 and 2005. Jaclyn Sweeney won the event in 2008 before Caroline Hedwall took top honors in 2010 to become the school's most recent champion.

The 32nd-ranked Oklahoma women's golf team concluded its 2011-12 season with four top-two finishes out of eight regular season tournaments.  Oklahoma enters the postseason as one of seven Big 12 schools ranked in the top 50 nationally.  Those schools are No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 17 Oklahoma State, No. 18 Baylor, No. 29 Texas Tech, No. 31 Texas, No. 32 OU and No. 37 Iowa State.

"This year has gone by so quickly, I can't believe we are already here at the Big 12 Championship," said OU head coach Veronique Drouin. "We are excited to be here and have been preparing for this championship since we started school in August."

Oklahoma will be led by sophomore Chirapat Jao-Javanil, starting at the No. 1 position for the seventh tournament this season. The Thailand native holds the team's lowest season stroke average with a 74.00 and has finished in the top 10 in four tournaments this year. Jao-Javanil led the Sooners in last year's Big 12 Championship by finishing in 10th place.

Anne-Catherine Tanguay will compete in the No. 2 position for the Sooners this weekend. The sophomore boasts five top-20 finishes this season, including her win at the 90-competitor Susie Maxwell Berning Classic in the fall.

Junior Taylor Schmidt will play out of the No. 3 spot. Schmidt has finished in the top 20 three times this season and holds a 75.17 stroke average.

Starting in the No. 4 position will be sophomore Emily Collins, who missed OU's first two tournaments of the year due to illness. Collins has recorded one top-20 finish this season and carries a 76.56 stroke average and was recently named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team.

Rounding out the Sooners' lineup in the No. 5 spot is junior Jacki Marshall. Marshall, in her first year at OU after transferring from Tyler (Texas) Junior College, tied for 18th at the Texas A&M "Mo"Morial this season and also shot a career-best 72 at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic. 

Texas captured its third Conference crown in 2011 with a three-round total of 872. The Longhorns also won the Big 12 Championship in 1997 and 2004. Oklahoma State has captured seven overall Conference titles, while Texas A&M holds four titles. OU is the only other team to win the title (2000). Last season, Madison Pressel of UT earned her first Big 12 individual title with a score of 208. Each season the top 10 individual finishers are named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team.

Big 12 Championship history
Year     Site                                        Champion
2011    The Club at Old Hawthorne     Texas
2010    Jimmie Austin                          Texas A&M
2009    Rawls Course                          Oklahoma State
2008    Karsten Creek                         Oklahoma State
2007    Ridgewood CC                        Texas A&M
2006    Country Club of Lincoln           Texas A&M
2005    Univ. of Texas GC                    Oklahoma State
2004    Pebble Creek CC                    Texas
2003    Country Club of Missouri         Oklahoma State
2002    Colbert Hills                             Oklahoma State
2001    The Harvester                          Oklahoma State
2000    Lubbock CC                             Oklahoma
1999    Boulder CC                              Oklahoma State
1998    Jimmie Austin GC                    Texas A&M
1997    Alvomar G&CC                        Texas