A&M-Commerce golf teams conclude season

The A&M-Commerce men's and women's golf teams competed in their final tournament of the year at the Lone Star Conference Championship tournament April 18-20 at WinStar Golf Course in Thackerville, Okla.

The men were led by freshman T.J. McColl and finished eighth as a team, with a collective score of 886. Senior Heather Pantalion finished best out of the A&M-Commerce women, as they placed ninth with a 54-hole total of 989.

"We played pretty well," head coach Louie Bledsoe said about the men's performance. "We shot a 301, which, for us this year, is a pretty good score."

Both teams dealt with inclement weather during the Sunday opening round. Bledsoe said they were able to put in better results after it cleared.

"The second day it was a little better weather, and we improved a little bit," he said.

The men improved their score in the second round to 297, and ended the tournament with a 288 behind senior Danny Jun's individual score of 69.

"Danny Jun started out a little shaky for us, but came in a three under in the third round," Bledsoe said. "That was a really good round for him; maybe his best round of the year."

Jun said he is happy to have been able to post a 69 as his final score.

"I'm kind of glad I ended it like that," he said. "I didn't play well the first two rounds. I had a bit of trouble putting and getting the ball around the course, but pulled it all together."

Bledsoe said Jun, who had a tournament score of 223 (78-76-69), had an unusually difficult time putting in the LSC tournament. Jun said this was something most of the team suffered from.

"For me, the biggest trouble was the greens," he said. "I had a really tough time trying to get the speed right. The second day I hit 17 greens and I had way too many puts. For a lot of the people it was the greens, because it's a really wide-open golf course and it's pretty score-able."

McColl had a tournament score of 221 (74-73-74) and finished tied for 20th.

"T.J. McColl had a pretty good tournament for us," Bledsoe said. "The last round he was three under at the turn, parred the first three holes on the back and ran into a double-bogey. Then he kind of struggled, but he finished just two over."

For the women, Pantalion also ended tied for 20th individually with a score of 236 (80-84-72). After a team score of 353 on the first day, the women also improved as the tournament progressed, with a score of 327 on day two and a final round score of 309. Bledsoe said he was happy to see the senior, Pantalion, lead the way, but he also said the problem the women had was the same as it has been all season.

"We were really inconsistent this year," he said. "We did improve, but compared to other scores [in the tournament], we still weren't as good."

Bledsoe said one of the reasons for the inconsistency was the lack of players he had in the team.

"They are all good golfers and good students," he said. "The main problem is not enough competition."

This is something Bledsoe said he plans to fix. He said at least six new players will be added to the women's squad in the fall. One of these additions in particular, Chantry McMahan from Kaufman High School, excites Bledsoe.

"She was named top six in the Metroplex," he said. McMahan has gone to the state tournament every year in high school, according to Bledsoe. She finished third as a freshman, fifth as a sophomore and third as a junior.

Bledsoe said the men's team will be bringing in a few more freshman as well. Jun said he is confident the men will begin to improve.

"We have a solid team, and it's just in a rebuilding stage right now," he said. "The outlook on our team in the future, we actually have pretty good potential for that."

Jun will find out on Friday whether he qualified individually for the NCAA Super Regionals in Duncan, Okla.