Feb. 28, 2005

BRYAN, Texas - After a second place finish at Purdue's Puerto Rico Invitational last week, the TCU women's golf team earned a 17 spot leap in the rankings as it heads into the 12th annual Texas A&M "Mo"Morial Invitational. The two-day tournament, Feb. 28 and March 1, at Traditions Golf Club features a 15-team field, including No. 26 SMU, No. 30 Baylor, No. 33 Kent State, No. 46 Northwestern, and the hosts, No. 43 Texas A&M.

Other teams in the mix include North Carolina, Oregon State, Wisconsin, Kansas, Kansas State, UTEP, Indiana, Illinois State, and UT-Pan American.

Individually, sophomores Catherine Matranga and Camilly Blackerby find themselves in the nations top 100 (98 and 100, respectively). They, along with teammates sophomores Stacey Bieber and Elin Emanuelsson and senior D'Rae Ward, will battle with other nationally ranked players - SMU's Laura Cross (59) and Jennifer Ackerson (63), Kent State's Gabby Wedding (75), and A&M's Christa Spedding (94) - for the medalist honors.

The tournament will consist of 36 holes on Monday and a final 18 on Tuesday. Play begins with a shotgun start both days, with the opening round teeing off at 8 a.m. and the final round at 8:30 a.m. Golfstat.com provides the live stats.

Co-designed by Jack Nicklaus and Jack Nicklaus II, Traditions opened last summer. The par-72 course measures 6,386 yards.

The Frogs opened the spring season with a second-place finish at the Puerto Rico Invitational on Feb. 23 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Blackerby led the Frogs with a tie for second and leads with a 74.91 average. Matranga follows with a 75.00, Ward at 76.21, Emanuelsson at 76.38, and Bieber at 77.50.

www.gofrogs.com