Tristen Cortez MCALLEN – The UTRGV Women’s Golf Team opened the Fall season with a 10th place finish at Texas Tech’s Red Raider Invitational in Lubbock last Tuesday.
The team shot a final three-round score of 926 including a low of 296 in the second round of the inaugural competition, kicking off a season of new beginnings for the team.
Teams from across the country competed at the invitational, with Texas Tech taking first and scoring 847 over the competition.
Bryan Novoa, coach for the UTRGV Women’s Golf Team, gave his encouragement to the team, and emphasized that commitment to the game is what counts.
“You’re an employee of the university and you’re working your tail off every week,” Novoa said. “Being competitive is about taking care of what you need to take care of every single day, what you can control, and from a commitment level that’s how we’re measuring ourselves and how we’re measuring our progress.”
Preston Saiz and Cristina Galban, both first-year women’s golfers, placed at the invitational; Saiz tied 39th with a score of 231 and Galben placed 58th with a score of 253.
Saiz said that becoming a student athlete is a new and exciting experience and she looks forward to balancing it with academic life.
“My teammates, they are very welcoming,” Saiz said. “I feel like we have such good academic advisors for the athletes, it’s been a lot easier than I expected for sure.”
Back on its home turf, the team mainly practices at Champions Lake Golf Course four days a week.
To facilitate the experience and contribute to future success, the course is building a facility that will house the golfers.
Carlos Espinosa, director of Golf for the City of McAllen, said the facility is a part of a mutually beneficial relationship between UTRGV and the city.
“The building is going to be basically a home for them,” Espinosa said. “It’s going to have locker rooms for them, it’s going to have hitting areas with all of the technology available for analysis of golf shots and golf swings. It’s going to be a tremendous facility.”
The facility is planned for completion in the coming months by the City of McAllen.
The next tournament for the Women’s golf team will be the Aggies Invitational on Oct. 9 in Las Cruces, Nevada.
