The Blinn College Buccaneers knew they would be competing at the Texas Intercollegiate Invitational this week, they just didn’t know they would make history in the process.
Blinn’s women’s golf team opened the two-day, three-round competition on Monday in Fort Worth, Texas, with its two lowest rounds in program history before surpassing that excellent effort with another record-breaking round Tuesday en route to a second-place finish in the first meet of the fall.
The Bucs finished second in the seven-team competition, staying neck-and-neck with tournament host and champion Texas Wesleyan University until the final holes of the third round.
Texas Wesleyan finished 26-over par, while Blinn came in at 37-over.
“We were expecting some good play out of our new group, and they didn’t disappoint me and assistant coach Gary Belt,” Blinn head coach David Johnson said. “It was fun to watch them compete today, and we couldn’t be prouder of the way they performed.”
The opening round of the Intercollegiate saw the Bucs compile a team-mark 301, and Blinn followed that with a 303 in round two to produce the program’s two lowest performances since Blinn launched golf in 2019.
Blinn shattered their short-lived record on the final day of play by carding a 297 (9-over par).
Sophomore Rattanavarin Tassaneetipagorn also made program history when she shot a 69 to finish 3-under par in the first round. She bogeyed the opening hole of the round before earning four birdies and 13 pars to end the round atop the leaderboard.
(Pictured: From left, Abigail O’Brien, Rattanavarin Tassaneetipagorn, and Abiha Syed)
Freshman Abigail O’Brien capped a strong tournament with a 1-under-par outing in round three, propelling her to a second-place tie (5-over). She had nine birdies and added an astonishing 50-foot eagle putt on par 5 in round three (hole 12) to solidify an outstanding effort.
Tassaneetipagorn finished fourth at 6-over, and freshman Abiha Syed took eighth at 11-over.
Syed also had a “see-it-to-believe-it” shot that came in the second round when she teed off on the 14th hole and landed in a hazard. After taking a penalty stroke, Syed walloped a 130-yard homing missile of a shot that found the hole for a birdie on par five.
Both O’Brien and Tassaneetipagorn were named to the all-tournament team.
Making the performance even more impressive for the Bucs was that the tournament served as the collegiate debuts for O’Brien, Syed, her sister and freshman Daniah Syed (15th at 15-over) and freshman Alison Madeley (31st place).
“What an experience,” said Belt, who is in his second season as Blinn’s assistant golf coach. “I was so proud of the way the women battled in their first event of the season.
They competed very well with an NAIA national powerhouse in Texas Wesleyan, and we now know what we need to work on before next week’s tournament. If the players can be cleaner around the greens next week in Waco, they should be fun to watch.”
The Bucs will look to build on their season-opening success when they travel to the two-day Waco River Classic beginning Monday, Sept. 16, in Waco, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 49 national championships since 1987.
