Cowgirl freshmen shine in debut at Trinity Forest Invitational, TU in eighth

DALLAS – In her first day of collegiate competition, Oklahoma State’s Isabella Fierro carded a 3-under 141 to lead the Cowgirls to the top of the Trinity Forest Invitational leaderboard after 36 holes.

The freshman is in third place overall after shooting 71-70, and is just three strokes behind the individual leader, Kirsty Hodgekins of Colorado. One of the highest ranked recruits in program history, Fierro posted a tournament-high 10 birdies and an eagle on the 516-yard No. 1.

The Cowgirls struggled with the breezy conditions and tricky greens early, but rebounded to shoot a 3-under 291-282 as a team. OSU leads the field by nine strokes with 18 holes to play.

Fierro is just one of four Cowgirls in the top-10 heading into Tuesday’s final round. Fellow freshman and Dallas native Hailey Jones is tied for eighth after shooting a 1-over 74-71. Jones sprinkled in eight birdies on the day, and is joined in eighth place by teammate Michelle Forsland, who shot a tournament-low 67 in the afternoon round.

Lianna Bailey is tied for 10th after 36 holes. The sophomore holed out her bunker shot on No. 16 to give her two straight birdies and 10 total on the day, which is tied with Fierro for the most at the event.

The tournament is being played at the Trinity Forest Golf Club, which is the home of the PGA Tour’s Byron Nelson Invitational. The Cowgirls will tee off the final round at 8:30 a.m.

Tulsa  is in 8^th place following rounds of 306 and 300 for a 606. Sophomore Lorena Tseng turned in rounds of 72-74 for a 2-over par 146 and sits in 10^th place going into Tuesday’s final 18 holes.

Freshman Lilly Thomas is in 33^rd place with identical rounds of 76 for a 152 score. Junior transfer Haley Greb sits in 40^thplace after carding scores of 79 in the first round and improving 5 strokes to a 74 for a total score of 153. Junior Taylor Dobson is in 45^th place with a score of 155 and freshman Alex Christenson’s 162 was good for 60^th place.

Sophomore Jasmine Zhang, playing as an individual, is in 58^th place with a 158 score.

TEAM SCORES

1. Oklahoma State        291-282=573
2. North Texas                291-291=582

T3.        Colorado                      294-290=584

T3.        Baylor                           292-292=584

5. Texas Tech                  298-290=588
6. Memphis                     296-300=596
7. Kansas State               295-302=597
8. Tulsa                              306-300=606
9. SMU                              305-305=610
10. Tulane                           309-303=612
11. Central Arkansas       310-309=619

TULSA INDIVIDUALS

T10.         Lorena Tseng                      72-74=146

T33.         Lilly Thomas                        76-76=152

T40.         Haley Greb                          79-74=153

T45.         Taylor Dobson                   79-76=155

T60.         Alex Christenson               80-82=162

T54.         Jasmine Zhang*                 80-78=158

TOP-5 INDIVIDUALS

1.          Kirsty Hodgkins, Colorado             67-71=138 (-6)
2.          Lauren Cox, North Texas                68-72=140 (-4)
3.          Isabella Fierro, OSU                         71-70=141 (-3)

T4.            Sofia Garcia, Texas Tech                70-72=142 (-2)

T4.            Reid Isaac, Kansas State                 72-70=142 (-2)

T4.            Faith Summers*, SMU                    72-70=142 (-2)

OSU INDIVIDUALS

T8. Michelle Forsland (+1) 78-67

T8. Hailey Jones (+1) 71-74

T10. Lianna Bailey (+2) 75-71

T15. (IND) Han-Hsuan Yu (+3) 72-75

T25. Emma Whitaker (+5) 74-75