The SMU women’s golf team finished the Conference USA Championship tournament with a sixth place finish with a total of 913 strokes.

Although the Mustangs placed sixth overall, they were only a mere nine strokes behind first place tournament winner UTEP. Individually, the Mustangs put forth an impressive showing by having three top 20 finishers.

The Mustangs highest finisher, freshman Amy Ruengmateekhun, finished the tournament tied for 10th. She finished the tournament on day three by shooting four over par with a 76 which lowered her score to 227 overall. The other top 20 finishers were Maria Elena Villamil and Felicia Espericueta.

Vilamil finished in the top 15 with a 13th place finish and Espericueta wrapped up the championship tournament by placing 18th overall.

The Mustangs as a team finished the first 18 holes tied for the lead in the entire tournament by shooting 302 on the first day.

Although they enjoyed the initial day one success, SMU saw their lead slowly dwindle as other teams cut down their lead on the second day. By the end of day two, the Mustangs had fallen to third place and found themselves chasing nationally ranked Tulane and eventual tournament champion UTEP.

Although losing their initial lead, the Mustangs still managed to finish sixth and return to the Hilltop after a successful tournament showing and 2011 campaign.

Looking back, SMU fought hard all year and had multiple top finishes in very competitive tournaments throughout the country.

One of SMU’s best tournament finishes was at Augusta in the Lady Jaguar Invitational in which the Mustangs placed sixth overall. The lady golf team also enjoyed a fifth place finish at the ORU shootout in Tulsa early on in the year.

Individually, SMU enjoyed success all year long from the young freshman Amy Ruengmateekhun and Maria Elena Villamil. Ti Gannon was also a major contributor and even won a Conference USA player of the week award during the season.