April 19, 2008
Albuquerque Journal
UNM Continues Dominance
By Glen Rosales For the JournalIt was almost like a scene out of a bad golf cartoon.
For the University of New Mexico's Jodi Ewart, however, it was anything but that Friday.
Stuck in a bunker on the 499-yard, par-5 fifth hole, she flailed away, watching the ball pop back to her once, twice, before she was able to beat the sand monster and get it on the green.
Then it took her three putts to finally slay her demon, leaving her with an unsightly 9 for the hole. That turned what had been a 2-under start into a scramble to retain respectability in Friday's second round of the three-day Mountain West Conference women's golf tournament at the UNM Championship Course.
It turned out Ewart was the victim of the preparations for the NCAA women's championship that will be played on the course in May. All of the traps have had new sand, which had not yet settled.
The one on No. 5 was like that.
"I was digging through to Australia, I think," Ewart said with a smirk. "The first shot was slightly above my feet and it ended up in the air and came right back down to me. There was so much sand in the bunker that you had to pick it clean to get it out."
Ewart was able to retain her focus well enough to finish strong with a round of 75 on the 6,167-yard, par-73 course, but she passed the leadership roll to teammates Britney Choy and Morgan Grantham.
Choy and Grantham each had the rounds of the day, shooting 2-under 71s. That leaves Choy in the lead with a two-day total of 1-under 154, with Grantham, Ewart and BYU's Natalia Jimenez tied for second at 147.
Grantham's round was a career best for her, helping No. 23 New Mexico shoot 1 under as a team for the day. The Lobos had a two-round score of 5-over 589, giving them a 14-stroke lead.
"This is giving me, personally, a lot of confidence for regionals," she said. "I've been hitting the ball really well."
It's also giving New Mexico a shot at one of the goals it had established entering the tournament. The conference record for winning margin is 26 shots, set by the Lobos in 2001.
"We're going for 27," Grantham said. "That's kind of a goal of ours."
With three players crowding the leaderboard, and Mikaela Backstedt seventh with a two-round total of 152 and Alexandra Phelps of Eldorado shooting a 74 on Friday, that goal just might be within reach.
But Choy, for one, said she isn't thinking about that. Actually, she was unaware she was the leader.
"I had no idea," she said. "It makes me wish I had made more of my putts."
Still, being the clubhouse leader isn't going to sway her from her strategy.
"I'm just going to go out there and try to hit my shots," Choy said. "If you start worrying about trying to get the win, then you start forcing it."