A Higher Summit

Excitement is in the air as the Texas A&M women’s golf team embarks on the spring portion of its 2022-23 campaign. The Maroon & White climbed to new heights a year ago and the early returns in head coach Gerrod Chadwell’s second season point to the Aggies headed to a higher summit.

2021-22: A Look Back

Texas A&M enjoyed a historic season in its first campaign under Chadwell, capped off by advancing to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship for the first time in school annals. The Aggies finished third in stroke play at the tournament and toppled Florida State in the quarterfinal round before succumbing to Oregon in the semis. Blanca Fernández García-Poggio and Jennie Park earned All-America Honorable Mention from the Women’s Golf Coaches Association for their efforts on the season.

During the regular season, the Aggies claimed the title in the Desert Match Play and finished runner-up at three tournaments, including the Schooner Fall Classic, Clover Cup and Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic.

All five players return the lineup that played at the NCAA Championships last season. Fernández García-Poggio led the team with a 72.08 stroke average, the fifth-best in school history, and locked in three top-10 finishes.  Park recorded a 72.38 stroke average, notching two runner-up finishes and seven top-15 performances. Park finished tied for third at the 2022 NCAA Championships, carding a 1-under 287 in 72 holes of stroke play.

Fall Review

The Aggies had a productive autumn, claiming the team title at The “Mo”Morial Invitational as well as finishing second in the talent-laden Carmel Cup at the prestigious Pebble Beach Golf Links.

At the “Mo”Morial, Ol’ Sarge’s charges erased a six-stroke deficit on the back nine of the final round to shock the Texas Longhorns and secure the tournament title.

The Maroon & White also advanced to the championship match play round at the East Lake Cup with Fernández García-Poggio earning the individual stroke play title. The highlight of the event was Hailee Cooper sending the Aggies to the championship round with a walk-off eagle that she chipped in from well over 50 feet.

Park carries the Aggies’ lowest stroke average after the fall slate, carding a 71.60, scoring in the 60s in three of her 10 rounds. Cooper sports a 72.80 with five rounds of par-or-better.

“In the fall I thought we picked up where we left off. Pebble Beach was good, playing really well out of the gate in comparison to the No. 1 team in the country, Stanford,” Chadwell said. “We haven’t had The Mo in forever and to win in awesome fashion was great. I think winning at home is harder than people think. There’s some distractions with being hosts. Blessings was a good a learning opportunity and we got some match play experience at East Lake. I thought we picked up right where we left off and got better. It’s been a while so since the program was ranked in the Top 10 after the fall semester, so I was very encouraged with what we accomplished.”

Meet the Aggies: The Starting Five

Hailee Cooper – Graduate – Montgomery, Texas

• Logged a pair of top 10 finishes, including ninth at the Carmel Cup and third at the “Mo”Morial
• Ranked second on the squad with a 72.80 stroke average for the fall.
• Earned WGCA and Golfweek All-America accolades in 2018-19.

“Hailee played well at a big amateur tournament in Mexico last week (finished 6th),” Chadwell said. “I thought she had a really good fall, which is when she struggled for us last year. She’s in a much better place heading into the spring than she was a year ago.”

Jennie Park – Senior – Carrollton, Texas

• Led the team in the fall with a 71.60 stroke average.
• Placed third at the Carmel Cup and fifth at the “Mo”Morial Invitational.
• Finished third in stroke play at the 2022 NCAA Championships with the lowest 72-hole score in A&M history at 1-under 287.

“Jennie had a really good fall,” Chadwell said. “She is in a lot of player of the year stuff. She goes to Mexico and had a chance to win a big amateur event there. What I witnessed from Jennie there is her putting got a lot better – under the gun when it mattered the most. It’s easy to putt well when the team is doing well, but she had a chance to win a tournament and she made some really good putts.”

Zoe Slaughter – Junior – Houston, Texas

• Posted a 74.20 stroke average in the fall.
• Finished ninth at the “Mo”Morial Invitational and 18th at the Carmel Cup.
• Earned All-American Athletic Conference and American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in 2020-21.

“Zoe is working on her putting,” Chadwell said. “It has kind of let her down. She is such a good ball striker. If she gets the putter going, it will be a great spring for her.”

Blanca Fernández García-Poggio – Senior – Madrid, Spain

• Posted a 74.40 stroke average in the fall.
• Finished ninth at the Blessings Collegiate.
• Earned All-SEC First Team in 2021-22.

“I’m excited to see Blanca opening weekend,” Chadwell said. “She is kind of our engine. When Blanca is playing good it just seems to make everything better.”

Adela Cernousek – Sophomore – Antibes, France

• Posted a 74.30 stroke average in the fall with 4-of-10 rounds at par-or-better.
• Finished 13th at the Carmel Cup.
• Earned All-SEC Freshman Team in 2021-22.

“Adela just got back from training camp that she said was rigorous from start to finish,” Chadwell said. “I feel like her game is going to start off in a good place right away.”

Meet the Aggies: The Reserves

Lana Calibuso-Kwee – Sophomore – Wailuku, Hawai’i

• Placed 12th in her first collegiate match, the 2022 Carmel Cup, shooting 3-over 219 at Pebble Beach.
• Posted a 74.17 stroke average in the fall, including a 39th-place showing in the “Mo”Morial Invitational.

Lauren Nguyen – Sophomore – Katy, Texas

• Saw her first collegiate action at the “Mo”Morial invitational, carding a 237.
• Earned 2019 Texas Legends Junior Tour Player of the Year status.

Mia Nixon – Freshman – Martins Mill, Texas

• Ranked as the No. 1 recruit in the Lone Star State and the No. 32 golfer in the 2022 class.
• Won three consecutive state championships at Martins Mill, including a 15-stroke victory to capture the 2022 title.

Allyn Stephens – Freshman – Houston, Texas

• Ranked as the No. 3 recruit in the Lone Star State and No. 39 in the nation for the 2022 class.
• Won the AJGA Shreveport Junior in 2021, shooting 34-35-69-71.

Antonia Zacharovska – Freshman – Košice, Slovakia

• Ranked No. 200 in the WAGR rankings and is the top-ranked amateur in Slovakia.
• Saw her first collegiate action at the “Mo”Morial Invitational.

“We challenged the rest of the roster to be more competitive,” Chadwell said. “I thought that was the biggest thing we had going for us last year is our roster changed seven or eight times. Those girls that were still playing at the end of the season had to worry about their spot every time they came home. We need these young ladies to be more competitive and pushing because their turn is coming up soon.”

Tourneys to Watch

Local fans have a short drive to catch the Maroon & White in action at the ICON Invitational hosted by the Golf Club of Houston in Humble from February 27-28. Last year, 10 participants in the tournament earned NCAA Regional bids.

“Obviously that one is an important one for me,” Chadwell said. “I thought we played okay there last year. That golf course hosts a PGA Tour event, so I think it’s going to test everything about our game. And it’s a 36-18 event, so physically we’re going to see where we are at. We’re going to see 36 holes at SEC in quarters and semis and NCAA in quarters and semis.”

The Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic from March 24-26 is a possible course preview for NCAA Regional action. The host track, UGA Golf Course, is one of six regional venues. The 2022 Liz Murphey included eight top 25 squads and the Maroon & White finished second behind then-No. 4 South Carolina.

“The Liz Murphey is an interesting one because it hosts a regional this year,” Chadwell said. “So we get to go and play somewhere we played really well at last year. We had a second-place finish there. I’m excited to go compete in that one. It’s a big golf course. It suits us well because one of our strengths is ball striking, so I’m curious to see how we compete there.”

The Silverado Showdown at the Silverado Resort and Spa Golf Course in Napa, California, from April 3-5 will also give the Aggies an NCAA Regional feel. The 2022 field included six teams ranked in the top 15.

“Silverado is another event at a PGA Tour course,” Chadwell said. “The girls love that event. It’s west so we’ll get a preview of turf conditions for nationals.”

Postseason Slate

The Aggies head to the SEC Championship from April 12-16 at Greystone Golf and Country Club’s Legacy Course in Hoover, Alabama. It marks the ninth consecutive year the course hosts the league tournament. The Maroon & White claimed the SEC title at Greystone in 2015. The 2023 event marks the fifth time in which the championship features both stroke and match play. 

“It’s a golf course that suits us well,” Chadwell said. “We laid an egg there last year, but we have a handle on what went wrong there, and it showed with our NCAA after that event.”

The NCAA Regionals are slated for May 8-10 at six sites. The site nearest to Aggieland is 160 miles away at TPC San Antonio. 

"I think TPC San Antonio is a golf course that would suit us well,” Chadwell said. “Topography-wise it’s very similar to what we see at Traditions. It would fit our very well. And it would be nice to just hop in the van to travel for postseason. I would be excited if we got sent there.”

The five other venues are UGA Golf Course (Athens, Georgia), PGA National Resort (Palm Beach Gardens, Florida), Palouse Ridge Golf Club (Pullman, Washington), Lonnie Poole Golf Course (Raleigh, N.C.) and The Club at Chatham Hills (Westfield, Indiana).

The national championship will be decided from May 19-24 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

“I’ve said this ever since returned from Grayhawk, the way Traditions plays day-in and day-out really prepared us for the NCAAs,” Chadwell said. “You must be patient. You must be disciplined. I talked to the GM there the other day and I said I feel like it’s been like a neutral site, even though it’s a home game for Arizona State. It’s just a championship site. Everybody has the same shot to win going in.”