2016-17 Shocker Women's Golf

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks played in the MVC Preview Tournament in Cape Girardeau, Missouri yesterday and today.

This appears to be a new fall tournament for the MVC (at least I don't recall this tournament in prior years) and it included all 10 MVC teams plus Murray State, UMKC, Arkansas State and Austin Peay.

There was good news and bad news I guess. The bad news was that 4 non-Valley teams took 1st, 2nd, 4th and 7th place out of the 14 teams with Murray State winning with a very good team score of 7-over par followed by UMKC at 20-over par . Also Evansville, Loyola and Northern Iowa managed to put up scores over par by triple digits at +101, +107 and +120 respectively. Ouch!

On the positive side the Lady Shocks placed 3rd at 33-over par with Junior Taryn Torgerson leading the way with a very nice 3-under par 213 (67-74-72) effort which including birdies on her 3 of her final 5 holes to catapult her to medalist honors for the Tournament. Freshman Michelle Ledermann from Bolivia also gave the Shockers a nice boost with a 1-over par 73 in today's final round.

The closest Valley teams to the Shockers were SIU at +43, 10 shots behind the Shocks and Bradley another two strokes back at +45. The Shocks pulled away from SIU and Bradley late in the final round.

The 1st round kind of hurt that Shocks as they were +15 in that round despite Taryn's 5-under 67.

GolfStat Scoreboard

This would seem to establish the Shockers as the favorite to repeat as Valley champions again next Spring although a lot can happen between now and then.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks finished 6 out of 18 teams at the Pinehurst Challenge in North Carolina earlier this week.

It appears to have been a good consistent team effort from the Shocks with all 15 rounds played in the 70's and with all 5 players contributing at least 1 round to the scoring.

Lane Evans lead the way with a career best 5-over par 221 followed by Tara Torgerson (222). Gavrilla Arya (225), Michelle Ledermann (226) and Annika Chickering (230).

I see that as a good sign if they can continue that as one of the question marks I had about this year's team was would they be hurt by a lack of depth.

http://www.goshockers.com/news/2016/10/11/womens-golf-team-effort-sees-shockers-finish-tied-6th.aspx

[1972Shocker]

Looks like a quality recruit inked by Coach Tom McCurdy and the Shocks for next year:

http://www.goshockers.com/news/2016/11/15/mccurdy-announces-womens-golf-signee.aspx

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks golfers will open their 2017 Spring Season this weekend at the Rio Verde Invitational in Rio Verde, Arizona which is just NE of the Phoenix metro area.

There are 19 teams in the field, none from P-5 conferences. There are 3 other Valley teams (Bradley, Illinois State and Missouri State) in the field so this will provide an early indication of how the Shocks might stack up in the Vallley this year.

Play begins at 2:00 pm CT.

Live Scoring

[1972Shocker]

Shocks finish Round 1 in Rio Verde at -18 in a 3-way tie for 4th. They are 11 strokes behind leader UMKC.

http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=12756

Bradley is +23, Missouri State is +24 and Illinois State is +29

[flyingMoose]

Shockers finish Round 2 in a three-way tie for fourth at +26. UMKC lead at +15.

Gavrill Arya at +4 is the leading Shocker individual and is in five-way for tenth.

Bradley are +30, Missouri State are +39 and Illinois State are +43.

[1972Shocker]

Shockers finish Round 2 in a three-way tie for fourth at +26. UMKC lead at +15.

Gavrill Arya at +4 is the leading Shocker individual and is in five-way for tenth.

Bradley are +30, Missouri State are +39 and Illinois State are +43.

Shocks played better today at +8 comapred to +18 in Round 1 but most of the rest of the field did as well.

http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=12756

[1972Shocker]

Shocks finish 5th in the Rio Verde Invitational shooting a 3rd round 297 to go along with their 306 and 296 from the 1st two round to finish at 889 which was 10 strokes behind winner Eastern Michigan. Perhaps if the Shocks had held it together a bit better in Round 1 they would have had a shot at winning this tournament.

I did like the fact that the 5 Lady Shocks recorded scores of 73, 74, 75, 75 and 75. When your throw away score is a 3-over 75 then that 's pretty solid.

The Shocks team score was 35 over. Missouri State finished at +49, Bradley was +55 and Illinois State was +58.

http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=12756

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks finished 7th out of 14 teams at the Little Rock - ASU Invitational on Monday and Tuesday.

Must have been a tough course or tough conditions or both as the scores in the tournament were pretty high. The Shocks were 74-over as a team.

Taryn Torgerson was the low player of the Shocks at a solid 7-over par 223 but her teammates could not keep up with the other 4 scores of 234, 241, 244 and 244.

Laine Evans competing as an individual shot a solid 8-over par 224 but that was on no help to the team score.

The Shocks finished 1 stroke ahead of Valley competitor Missouri State and well ahead of Evansville and Northern Iowa who finished in 12th and 13th.

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks have been picked to win the 2017 MVC Women's Golf Championship to be hosted by SIU and held in Cape Girardeau, MO on April 16 - 18.

However, the 3-time defending champion Shockers are far from a unamimous pick. The received 5 first place votes with Bradley picking up 3 first place votes and host SIU the other 2 first place votes. Missouri State was picked to finish 4th.

I don't think this Shocker teams is as strong or as consistent as our recent championship teams and I think anyone of the Top 4 picks could win this tournament. Shocks will need to play well to win this tournament and hopefully play steady golf from positions 1 through 5.

http://www.goshockers.com/news/2017/4/12/womens-golf-shockers-picked-to-win-mvc-championship.aspx

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks not living up to the status as the favorite to win the Valley Tournament.

The are in 4th place at 25-over par after the 1st round 11 shots behind leader Missouri State.

http://golfstatresults.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=11060

The Shocks are in a bit of hole but they aren't totally out of it but they need to make a move in the 2nd round to put them in a better position. Furthermore, the 4 teams behind MSU are bunched fairly close to each other.

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks shot 3 shots worse in Round 2 today than they did in Round 1 shooting a 28-over 316 vs 25-over 313 yesterday.

Still they moved up from 4th to 2nd although they did lose 2 more strokes to tournament leading Missouri State and now trail by 13 strokes heading in to the 3rd and final round tomorrow. 13 strokes is not impossible to make up in team play but pretty unlikley to happen.

Hopefully, the Shocks can hang on to a 2nd place finish as the lead Bradley and UNI by 5 strokes and SIU by 8. An 80, 82 and 84 out of our 3, 4 and 5 positions did us in today.

Interestingly, MSU's #1 golfer shot a 69 in Round 1 and an 83 today. But their #2 and #3 golfers shot 3 strokes better than yesterday which was good enough. Maybe that provides a small glimmer of hope for the Shocks but they didn't take advantage of that today. So perhaps a very, very small glimmer.

Must be a pretty challenging course for the Ladies.

http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=11060

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks had by far their best round of the tournament at 16-over 304 but the still lost 7 more shots to leader Missouri State who ran away from the field by 20 shots over the 2nd place Shockers with Bradley finishing 3rd another 10 shots back.

Taryn Torgerson had the best round of the Tournament among Shocker players today with a 1-over 73. Three teammates chipped in with 5-over 77's.

I believes this ends the Lady Shocker seasons. 4 of our top 5 golfers will return next year with only Maria Alejandra Villalobos finishing her Shocker career today. Good luck to Maria.

http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=11060