The Iowa State women’s golf team finished the 1996-97 season on a low note when it finished in 11th place at the Big 12 Championship in Lawrence, Kan. on April 20-22.

“It wasn’t pretty,” Iowa State Head Coach Julie Manning said. “When we finished there in the preview (last fall), I thought it was a fluke.”

The Cyclones completed the tournament with a final tally of 1001 strokes, compared to tournament champion Texas with 924.

“I thought we would finish in the top five or six,” she said. “We finished well at BYU and I thought we were peaking at the right time.”

Manning said the team opened the tournament with an opening round average of 85 strokes per golfer.

“With our opening round average of 85 strokes we might as well have packed our bags and gone home because we had dug ourselves a hole so deep that we couldn’t get out of 11th,” she said. “If we teed it up today we would have four of the five shoot in the 70’s.”

Manning said a lot of the parents traveled to the tournament and saw some of the players put self-imposed pressure on themselves.

Leading the Cyclones on the golf course was the 38th-place finish of junior Fiona Watson.

Watson finished the tournament with a final total of 246 strokes.

“Every time she finishes in the No. 1 slot, it has to build her confidence,” Manning said.

Finishing close behind was senior Gwynn Shepherd. Playing in her final tournament in the collegiate ranks, she finished one stroke behind Watson with a 247-stroke card, good enough for 40th overall.

“We wish her the best of luck in the future,” Manning said.

“She is going to graduate in December and hopefully in January she will be playing in the Futures Tour.”

Finishing in 51st place was junior Cathy Matthews. Matthews finished the tournament with a 255-stroke card.

Junior Sara Linneman finished one stroke behind found. Linneman’s score was good enough for 52nd overall.

Rounding out the Cyclone squad was freshman Kay C. Elgert. Elgert completed the tournament with 267 strokes.

Claiming the individual trophy was Longhorn golfer Heather Bowie. Bowie ran away with the prize with her 11-stroke lead over Aggie golfer Isabelle Rosberg. Bowie finished the tournament after 212 strokes, four strokes under par.

Manning said that, despite the poor finish, the team wasn’t going to dwell on it and is looking forward to the 1997-98 season.

“They are already thinking about next year,” Manning said. “I have had a couple of them stop in and already want to play again today.”

Watson, Matthews and Linneman will be returning seniors next season.

“I think we will get a little bit of strong leadership from that class,” Manning said. “They have spent a lot of time together the past three years, in fact, they have even lived together.”

Manning said one problem this season, depth of quality players, has been corrected for next year.

“We want to start thinking about next season,” Manning said. “We have three great freshman coming in who can all see time for us next season.”