Iowa State women’s golf was able to improve its standings dramatically at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational, compared to its 11th place finish at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic in mid-February. 

When tournament play began early Monday morning, the Cyclones season-long inconsistency continued. At times they were able to play some of their best golf of the season, as some golfers had streaks up to four birdies in a row during their round. Still, bogeys and even a handful of triple bogeys began to pile up.

Par three success:

Iowa State’s success on the par threes this week was able to mask its struggles in other areas. It finished a tie for second place for the lowest total score average out of the whole field at 2.98 on such holes.

Juniors Alana Campbell and Joy Chou led the way as they both finished in the top five of the individual leaderboard for par three average. Campbell had a tournament average of 2.75 and Chou had a 2.83.

The Cyclones continue to have dramatic improvement in this area, as they have improved from an average of 3.28 to 3.17 and now to 2.98 throughout the last three tournaments.

Par four struggles:

The struggles came on the par fours for Iowa State this week. A 4.30 average on such holes led to a total of 43 strokes over par. This was a very similar story of its last tournament in Puerto Rico, as it finished with an even worse average of 4.33.

Taglao Jeeravivitaporn was the Cyclone golfer who found the most success in this area. She finished 19th best out of the whole field with a total of six strokes over par for the week.

The rest of the Cyclones found themselves near the bottom of this list, with only two other golfers ranking inside the top 40.

Continued success from underclassmen:

For the second consecutive tournament the two lowest scores for Cyclones was either a freshman or sophomore. This week, sophomore Taglao Jeeravivitaporn and freshman Liyana Durisic finished near the top of the leaderboard.

Jeeravivitaporn finished tied for 15th out of the entire field for the week at four strokes over par. This was her third consecutive tournament finishing in the top 31 and her second best finish of the season.

Durisic finished the Wildcat Invitational tied for 24th place. After a slow start to the tournament, she was able to close out the week with her best round at two strokes under par bringing her tournament total to seven shots over par. This continued her streak of never finishing outside the top 50 during her collegiate career.

Iowa State’s next tournament will return to Tuscon, Arizona, for the Mountain View Classic. It will last from March 20-22.