Texas wins Cactus Cup title at Papago Golf Club

March 14, 2023 | by Jim Young of AmateurGolf.com

Photo courtesy of Texas Athletics

Four of the nation's top-10 teams sharpened their match play skills in the Arizona desert in advance of the NCAA Championships

While it may not be a preview of the national semifinals in six weeks at nearby Grayhawk Golf Club, four of the nation's top-10 teams sharpened their match-play skills over the last two days at the Cactus Cup held at Papago Golf Club in Phoenix.

The Texas Longhorns, ranked ninth in the current Golfweek/Sagarin poll, came away with the team championship, finishing with 11 points to outdistance No. 10 Arizona State (9.5), No. 4 South Carolina (7.5) and No. 8 San Jose State (7.0).

The Longhorns posted convincing wins over South Carolina (4-0-2) and San Jose State (4-2-0) on Monday and despite a 4-2-0 loss to the Sun Devils on Tuesday, accumulated enough points to win the team title.

Freshman Angela Heo (3-0), sophomore Bohyun Park (2-0-1) and senior Sophie Guo (2-0-1) accounted for eight of Texas' 11 points in the two-day competition.

Both Park and Heo were on the ropes in their matches against Arizona State but managed to pull out victories in both matches to secure the title for the Longhorns.

Park was three down after eight holes in her match against ASU's Ashley Menne, but pulled even on the 12th hole before going 1 up with a par on 17. In a battle of two of the nation's top freshmen, Heo was 1 down to Beth Coulter through 13 holes and the match was all square going to the final hole, which Heo birdied for the victory.

"It was a great effort by all six of our players this week," said Texas head coach Ryan Murphy. "I'm happy with how they fought to win some close matches and come out on top overall against three strong teams. Bo and Angela had strong records for the week and their comebacks today were particularly terrific.

"I think we got a taste of everything match play can throw at you. Big wins, tight matches, ties and a few losses. It was great preparation for what lies ahead for us this season."

Texas Athletic Communications contributed to this report

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