Little Rock Opens Spring Season at Texas State Invite

Texas State Invitational
Dates	Monday, Feb. 11 - Tuesday, Feb. 12
Format	36 holes Monday, 18 holes Tuesday
Times	8:30 a.m. shotgun start both days
Location	San Marcos, Texas
Course	Plum Creek Golf Course
Teams (16)	Little Rock, Boston College, Cal State Fullerton, Houston Baptist, Kansas State, Lamar, Oral Roberts, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas State, Tulsa, UT Arlington, UT Rio Grande Valley, UT San Antonio, UTEP
Scoring	BirdieFire

Opening Tee
Little Rock opens the spring portion of its 2018-19 schedule this week, heading to San Marcos, Texas for the Texas State Invitational, being played Monday, February 11 and Tuesday, February 12 at Plum Creek Golf Course.
 
Tournament Information
The 2019 Texas State Invitational will be played at Plum Crek Golf Course in San Marcos, Texas, a par-71 course measuring 6,059 yards. The 54 hole event will be played over the course of two days, beginning with the opening two rounds on Monday, February 11, starting with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. The final round will once again be a shotgun start, getting underway at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. Live scoring of the tournament will be available through BirdieFire.com.
 
Tournament Field
Little Rock is one of 16 teams competing in this year's event in San Marcos and is one of three Sun Belt schools, joined by host Texas State and UT Arlington. It will be a challenging field with three programs ranked among the GolfStat Top-100 at the end of the fall season, led by UT San Antonio (No. 70), UTEP (No. 78) and Tulsa (No. 84). Kansas State (No. 101), Sam Houston State (No. 107), Boston College (No. 108), Texas State (No. 110), Houston Baptist (No. 117) and Lamar (No. 128) ended the fall season among the top 150.
 
Trojan Lineup
As was the case throughout the fall season, Little Rock's lineup will be incredibly young, comprised of one senior and four true freshmen. Emelie Blennow led the team in the fall with a 74.13 scoring average, including four rounds of par or better, with Tilde Bocker posting a 76.67 average as a true freshman.
 

Golfer	Rds.	Strokes	Avg.	Par-	Low	10/20
Emelie Blennow	15	1,112	74.13	4	68	2/1
Tilde Bocker	15	1,150	76.67	1	71	0/1
Sydney Scraba	15	1,183	78.87	0	76	0/0
Malena Austerslaatt	12	945	78.75	0	76	0/0
Kellie Gachaga	12	959	79.92	0	74	0/0

 
Trojans at Texas State Invitational
The trip to central Texas has become a staple of Little Rock's spring schedule over the past few years as the 2019 event marks the sixth-straight season the Trojans will compete at Texas State's host event. Little Rock has placed among the top-five three times, highlighted by the 2015 event which saw the Trojans tie for first among the 14-team field, led by former Trojan Sabrina Bonanno tying for first individually with a 2-under 140.
 
Fall Recap
Little Rock competed in five events in the fall season as the Trojans began the daunting task of rebuilding the program with four true freshmen. Little Rock notched three top-10 team finishes, including rallying over the final round at the Little Rock Women's Golf Classic in October to tie for ninth with a final round 299. Senior Emelie Blennow was the top performer in the fall season with a 74.13 scoring average and four rounds of par-or-better, notching a pair of top-10 individual finishes and three top-20 showings.
 
Youth is Served
The biggest storyline of the 2018-19 season for Little Rock has been the play of its freshman foursome with all four playing a significant part early in their careers. Tilde Bocker has been the top performer, posting a 76.67 scoring average while competing in all five tournaments, tying for 18th at the UT Arlington Invitational. Malena Austerslaatt, Sydney Scraba and Kellie Gachaga have each played at least 12 rounds for the Trojans thus far with all three posting scoring averages under 80.
 
Lone Star Bound
This week's tournament in San Marcos marks the second of three tournaments for Little Rock in the Lone Star state this season. The Trojans competed at the UT Arlington Invitational in October, placing sixth overall, and will return to Texas in March, competing in the Houston Baptist Husky Invitational March 18-19 in Houston.
 
Looking Ahead
After this week's trip to Texas, Little Rock will turn its sights to another staple in its yearly schedule, making the trip to Rio Verde, Arizona, for the Rio Verde Collegiate Invitational February 22-24. Little Rock placed sixth at last year's event among the 17-team field with Sabrina Bonanno tying for 11th individually.
 
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