Thursday, April 13
Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
University of North Texas
vs
Conference USA Championship
Photo by: Mason Ponder
UNT Women Aiming For Historic C-USA Three-peat
4/12/2023 9:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – It's been five years since Patricia Sinolungan and Audrey Tan arrived on campus in Denton as wide-eyed 16-year-old college freshmen, newly whisked away to the other side of the world and trying to acclimate to a new culture and a new experience as a college student.
On top of all that, they were trying to be successful Division I college golfers.
As they enter their final conference championship tournament this week, one could say all those benchmarks have been met.
The UNT women's golf team will begin play at the Conference USA Championship at PGA National Resort on Thursday, hoping that by Saturday afternoon they will be hoisting the conference championship trophy for the third consecutive year – this one their final year in Conference USA before making the move to The American on July 1.
"To be honest, I didn't know much about anything five years ago," said Tan, who won the individual conference championship in 2021 to notch the first in program history as well as the first team conference championship. "I've enjoyed this journey immensely and I'm so grateful I get the chance to do this with an amazing group of people."
UNT enters the tournament ranked No. 35 in the latest Golfstat national poll and is No. 26 in the Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll. The Mean Green have already locked up a third straight bid to the NCAA Regionals, so a win means nothing but a source of pride and more hardware.
"This will be my fifth and last conference championship with Audrey and Patty," said UNT head coach Michael Akers, who has overseen one of the best turnaround stories in the nation having been ranked outside the top 200 when he took over the program seven years ago. "The time has flown by with them and they are such a huge reason why this program has seen incredible growth over the past five years.
"The good news is we have locked in a bid to the NCAA Regionals so we can go to conference with no pressure and realize we are just playing for a ring," he added. "Audrey told me she is committed to giving all she can to help our team advance to the National Championship. For the time being, we are playing one tournament at a time, one round at a time, one hole at a time and one shot at a time."
Last year, at the same course, UNT entered the final round facing a two-shot deficit, fell back by as many as six shots and pulled out a one-shot win over UTSA on the final hole in what was a two-horse race between two top-50 teams.
This year, only one other team, No. 90 Western Kentucky, is ranked inside the top 100, meaning the Mean Green will enter the tournament as overwhelming favorites.
"We are huge favorites, which is obviously a sign of our great play in the regular season but I have warned the team we need to concentrate on playing the golf course," Akers said. "PGA National is a very good and challenging golf course. We learned a lot last year and will certainly know how to handle certain holes differently."
One of the biggest reasons for that great play Akers speaks of is the unprecedented amount of depth in the program this year.
There's obviously Tan, a conference champion two years ago who is currently ranked No. 71 in the country, but beyond her is three other players who have earned C-USA Golfer of the Week honors this year alone, another who has won the award previously and a tournament victory for Sinolungan, who won the Tulane Classic last year and finished second in The Bruzzy just a couple of weeks ago when she beat several top-100 players.
Junior Ellie Roth is just outside the top-100 at No. 113 and finished third in The Bruzzy last week for her third consecutive top-15 finish. Her 71.56 stroke average is less than a stroke behind Tan's team-leading mark of 71.13 and, if the season concluded now, would be the second-best single-season stroke average in program history (behind Tan's this season). Sinolungan's 72.90 is currently the sixth-best in program history. Emilie Ricaud (73.57) and Shreya Pal (73.92) would qualify for top-10 status in program history.
"It has been awesome to see how deep our roster is," Akers said. "We have multiple players that could win any given tournament. Obviously, Audrey has been our No. 1 player for a while but we have seen Patty, Emilie, Mason (Lewis) and Ellie also be honored as the C-USA Golfer of the Week going back to last February. Hopefully we see multiple UNT players in the top five this week at conference."
If that happens, the likelihood would be that UNT would be conference winners once again and leave C-USA as the undisputed champions approaching dynasty status. The last time a team won three straight C-USA championships was South Florida in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
And if that happens, the greatest player in program history will further cement her legacy.
"I feel so excited to head back to PGA National," Tan said. "It's such an incredible golf course and I feel so lucky we get to play our conference championship on it. It's definitely a privilege to have the opportunity for a three-peat and to go out with a bang."
CHASING RECORDS:
With eight birdies this weekend, Tan will become the program's career leader, as she would pass current leader Lauren Cox (2017-21), who carded 349 birdies in her decorated career. …With two eagles, Ricaud would become the career leader and pass Randi Gauthier (2000-03), who had seven career eagles. Tan and Sinolungan are both one back of Ricaud with five each. …A UNT win would be Akers' sixth as the Mean Green coach, which would tie him with Jeff Mitchell (2009-16) as the winningest coach in program history.
On top of all that, they were trying to be successful Division I college golfers.
As they enter their final conference championship tournament this week, one could say all those benchmarks have been met.
The UNT women's golf team will begin play at the Conference USA Championship at PGA National Resort on Thursday, hoping that by Saturday afternoon they will be hoisting the conference championship trophy for the third consecutive year – this one their final year in Conference USA before making the move to The American on July 1.
"To be honest, I didn't know much about anything five years ago," said Tan, who won the individual conference championship in 2021 to notch the first in program history as well as the first team conference championship. "I've enjoyed this journey immensely and I'm so grateful I get the chance to do this with an amazing group of people."
UNT enters the tournament ranked No. 35 in the latest Golfstat national poll and is No. 26 in the Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll. The Mean Green have already locked up a third straight bid to the NCAA Regionals, so a win means nothing but a source of pride and more hardware.
"This will be my fifth and last conference championship with Audrey and Patty," said UNT head coach Michael Akers, who has overseen one of the best turnaround stories in the nation having been ranked outside the top 200 when he took over the program seven years ago. "The time has flown by with them and they are such a huge reason why this program has seen incredible growth over the past five years.
"The good news is we have locked in a bid to the NCAA Regionals so we can go to conference with no pressure and realize we are just playing for a ring," he added. "Audrey told me she is committed to giving all she can to help our team advance to the National Championship. For the time being, we are playing one tournament at a time, one round at a time, one hole at a time and one shot at a time."
Last year, at the same course, UNT entered the final round facing a two-shot deficit, fell back by as many as six shots and pulled out a one-shot win over UTSA on the final hole in what was a two-horse race between two top-50 teams.
This year, only one other team, No. 90 Western Kentucky, is ranked inside the top 100, meaning the Mean Green will enter the tournament as overwhelming favorites.
"We are huge favorites, which is obviously a sign of our great play in the regular season but I have warned the team we need to concentrate on playing the golf course," Akers said. "PGA National is a very good and challenging golf course. We learned a lot last year and will certainly know how to handle certain holes differently."
One of the biggest reasons for that great play Akers speaks of is the unprecedented amount of depth in the program this year.
There's obviously Tan, a conference champion two years ago who is currently ranked No. 71 in the country, but beyond her is three other players who have earned C-USA Golfer of the Week honors this year alone, another who has won the award previously and a tournament victory for Sinolungan, who won the Tulane Classic last year and finished second in The Bruzzy just a couple of weeks ago when she beat several top-100 players.
Junior Ellie Roth is just outside the top-100 at No. 113 and finished third in The Bruzzy last week for her third consecutive top-15 finish. Her 71.56 stroke average is less than a stroke behind Tan's team-leading mark of 71.13 and, if the season concluded now, would be the second-best single-season stroke average in program history (behind Tan's this season). Sinolungan's 72.90 is currently the sixth-best in program history. Emilie Ricaud (73.57) and Shreya Pal (73.92) would qualify for top-10 status in program history.
"It has been awesome to see how deep our roster is," Akers said. "We have multiple players that could win any given tournament. Obviously, Audrey has been our No. 1 player for a while but we have seen Patty, Emilie, Mason (Lewis) and Ellie also be honored as the C-USA Golfer of the Week going back to last February. Hopefully we see multiple UNT players in the top five this week at conference."
If that happens, the likelihood would be that UNT would be conference winners once again and leave C-USA as the undisputed champions approaching dynasty status. The last time a team won three straight C-USA championships was South Florida in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
And if that happens, the greatest player in program history will further cement her legacy.
"I feel so excited to head back to PGA National," Tan said. "It's such an incredible golf course and I feel so lucky we get to play our conference championship on it. It's definitely a privilege to have the opportunity for a three-peat and to go out with a bang."
CHASING RECORDS:
With eight birdies this weekend, Tan will become the program's career leader, as she would pass current leader Lauren Cox (2017-21), who carded 349 birdies in her decorated career. …With two eagles, Ricaud would become the career leader and pass Randi Gauthier (2000-03), who had seven career eagles. Tan and Sinolungan are both one back of Ricaud with five each. …A UNT win would be Akers' sixth as the Mean Green coach, which would tie him with Jeff Mitchell (2009-16) as the winningest coach in program history.
Players Mentioned
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