3e8
82
- Texas A&M
The Battalion Sports
June 3, 1982 Page 9
Striving for excellence
Furlong top golf competitor after recovering from back injury
gn up foi
3all, hani
mil 5 pi
will meei
aiuerbup
ile in Easl
Ashby-led offensive guides
Astros past Montreal, 6-4
by Frank L. Christlieb
Sports Editor
Texas A&M junior Shirley
Furlong has mapped out her fu
ture with the same precision that
permeates her golf game.
Drive by drive, putt by putt
and chip by chip, Furlong has
experienced what she classifies
as a rewarding career.
Even a possible career-ending
back injury during her sopho
more year didn’t drop Furlong’s
attitude below par. In fact, the
injury has directed her career
along a more certain course than
ever — a course which she be
lieves has an excellent chance of
climaxing with a spot on the
LPGA tour.
But before she attempts to
jump into a professional tour,
Furlong will finish her final sea
son with the Aggie women’s golf
squad. After her performance
during the past fall and spring
seasons, when she led Texas
A&M to the state championship
while capturing individual med
alist honors, Furlong can’t help
being excited about the 1982-83
season and what lies beyond.
“Every year, I set goals for
myself to reach,” Furlong said
Wednesday in a telephone inter
view from her home in San
Antonio. “One of my goals this
year was to make all-America
this year, which I did. Winning
the state tourney was a big boost
for me, and I’m happy with the
way the team played, too.”
When Furlong entered Texas
A&M as a freshman in the fall of
1978, she came off a third-place
finish in the state 4A golf cham
pionships, leading East Central
“Winning the state tour
ney was a big boost for
me, and I’m happy with
the way the team play
ed, too.”— Texas A&M
junior golfer Shirley
Furlong.
High School to third place over
all. But, she says modestly: “I
never really set the world on
P s
■at
United Press International
lONTREAL — The Houston Astros
have been struggling and Alan Ashby hopes
the battle is over.
Ashby drove in five runs Wednesday
|iight with a two-run double and a three-run
homer to power Houston to 6-4 victory over
the Montreal Expos.
‘We have been trying to talk ourselves
lit of something,” said Ashby. “We know
| are a better ballclub but it has been tough
to take our start.”
The Astros are 7'/a games behind the
planta Braves in the National League West
and Ashby feels more offense might help.
“We shouldn’t have to scratch for runs
nymore,” said the Houston catcher, who
bats out of the No. 8 position.
Ashby doubled in two runs in the second
to give Houston a 2-1 lead and the three-run
homer made the score 6-2 in the sixth in
ning.
The five RBIs gives Ashby 24 for the
season, two behind team leaders Jose Cruz
and Phil Garner.
“Ashby’s been struggling but he was due
to break out,” said Houston manager Bill
Virdon.
Nolan Ryan, pitching with a groin injury,
went the first seven innnings and brought
his record to 5-6 while Dave Smith, who
gave up a solo homer to Andre Dawson in
eighth inning, finished off the game.
The Houston righthander gave up four
hits, all in the first two innings, and that
surprised him.
“I was really struggling out there on the
mound and I’m really amazed I didn’t give
up any hits after the second inning.”
The Expos stranded seven runners, five
of them in the first two innings, and Mon
treal Manager Jim Fanning thought that
was the problem.
“We could have scored a few more runs in
the first two innings,” said Fanning. “You
have to get to Ryan early.”
After Wednesday night’s game, the Ex
pos headed for a four-game road trip and
Fanning hopes for something more like the
6-0 record from their last road trip.
fire.”
During the state tournament
in the spring of her freshman
year, in which she earned all-
state honors, Furlong encoun
tered her first back problems.
The injury resulted in her being
red-shirted, or held out of com
peting and practicing with the
Aggies, the following season.
“It started out with muscle
spasms during that tourna
ment,” Furlong said. “I strug
gled around with that, and play
ed during the summer, but my
back was OK. Even though I
played in some tourneys, my
back didn’t hurt me.”
When the summer ended,
however, Furlong’s back dis
comforts returned.
“I was playing in a tourna
ment in September, and I in
jured my back on the 18th hole,”
she said. “I was really swinging
well, so I really wanted to rip the
ball. Well, I really ripped it. The
muscle spasms started right af
ter that.”
As it turned out, Furlong had
torn several muscles in her back.
But she said she’s thankful that
the injury didn’t more severely
damage her back.
“I was really lucky that it
wasn’t pinched nerves Or disc
problems or something,” she
said. “After that, I just tried
coming back from the injury too
early. My doctor told me that I
had to throw in the towel for
about six months, with no phy
sical activity. About all I could do
was walk to class.”
Furlong spent two separate
weeks in the hospital, in traction,
during September and October
of 1979.
“I started trying to play again
too soon,” Furlong said, “and I
just couldn’t handle the twisting
motion involved in swinging.
The doctors told me I needed
more time to recover from the
injury.
“It was very painful. It’s not
like when you injure your arm
or leg and you can elevate it.”
Furlong said the injury and
redshirt year, which allowed her
to play her sophomore year of
eligibility during 1980-81 and
her junior year during the past
fall and spring, may have been a
blessing in disguise.
“So many college players fin
ish their eligibility, and pass up
finishing their degree work to
play professional golf,” she said.
“But this way, I’ll be graduating
in May and then I can go on to
try to play on the LPGA tour.”
Furlong said that when she
returned to competition with
the Aggies after recovering
from the injury, her on-the-
“The men’s victory was
such a factor for us.
When they won the
Southwest Conference
(earlier in April), we just
went bananas.” — Fur
long.
course golf game didn’t suffer
much. But there were other
complications.
“All that year, everything was
going great,” she said. “The only
problem was that I was still down
mentally. When you’ve been out
for a year, you really get out of it.
It was really a struggle for me to
return to the game mentally.”
Furlong said this season.
which ends when the Aggies
compete in the Association for
Intercollegiate Athletics for
Women national tournament
June 16-19 at Ohio State Uni
versity, has by far been the excla
mation point of her career. She
cited the team’s unity as a factor
in its successes, which include a
fifth-place finish at the NCAA
tournament last week at Stan
ford University.
“This year it seems like the
wheels started turning again for
me,” she said. “The team was
really pretty close this year.
Since golf is such an individual
sport, you want to do your best
and play as well as you can for
the team, too. As long as you go
out and play you best, you’ll al
ways help the team.
“When you make a mistake,
you can’t say someone else made
it. You have to keep that in
mind.”
The Aggies’ best perform-;
ance this season, Furlong said,
came when they won the state
tournament over TCU in April.
In that competition, Texas .
A&M trailed the Horned Frogs
by one shot entering the final
round, but Furlong’s 68 vaulted
the team to the title.
Furlong also erased a seven-
shot tournament lead by team
mate Monica Welch to win indi
vidual honors. Welch, who has
finished her eligibility, shot a
final-round 76.
“The men’s victory was such a
factor for us,” Furlong said.
“When they won the Southwest
Conference (earlier in April), we
just went bananas. That was
such an inspiration for us to go
See FURLONG page 11
> FTC
i becaifi
irpmu#!
r theagf
likely C
u tv to s
;ct its in'
itizen sni
lative ve«
ion’s pr|
iking
tout a
lay on il*
■s the vtf
exeaiii' 1
o enM
practicl
MSC FREE UNIVERSITY REGISTRATION |
1ST SUMMER SESSION 1
THURSDAY
JUNE 3
8 A.M.-5 P.M.
COURSES OFFERED:
BASIC MECHANICS
- LEARN TO DO YOUR OWN CAR RE
PAIRS, LUBRICATION, BRAKES,
TUNE-UP ETC.
- MEETS MONDAYS 5:00-7:00
P.M.
-HELD ON CAMPUS
- INSTRUCTOR: TIM CLACKLEY
-4 WEEKS $10.00
2ND FLOOR
MSC
ROOM #212
• DANCERCISE
— SHAPE UP WHILE LEARNING
BALLET, JAZZ, FLOOR EXER
CISES. FOR WOMEN ONLY.
-MEETS: SECTION A MONDAYS 6:00-7:00 P.M.
SECTION B TUESDAYS 6:00-7:00 P.M.
SECTION C WEDNESDAYS 6:00-7:00 P.M.
SECTION D THURSDAYS 6:00-7:00 P.M.
— HELD ON CAMPUS
— INSTRUCTOR: JULIA MASHBURN
— 4 WEEKS $6.00
> JITTERBUG
— BEGIN WITH THE BASICS AND
ADVANCE TO SPINS, TURNS,
PRETZELS, AERIALS.
-MEETS: SECTION A SUNDAYS 5:00-6:30 P.M.
SECTION B SUNDAYS 6:45-8:15 P.M.
— HELD ON CAMPUS
— INSTRUCTORS: MIKE AND
SHARI McCARLEY
— 4 WEEKS $8.00
• BEGINNING C&W DANCE
WITH FORD & SANDRA TAYLOR
CLASSES HELD AT THE TEXAS HALL OF FAME
— LEARN TO TWO-STEP, POLKA,
WALTZ, COTTON-EYED JOE,
SCHOTTISCHE ETC.
— MEETS TUESDAYS 6:30-7:45
P.M.
— 4 WEEKS $12.00
15
E
» ADVANCED C&W
WITH FORD & SANDRA TAYLOR
■ CLASSES HELD AT THE TEXAS HALL OF FAME
j - LEARN MANY ADVANCED MOVES
FOR THE TWO-STEP, WALTZ,
POLKA ETC.
- MEETS THURSDAYS 6:30-7:45
P.M.
-4 WEEKS $12.00
• BEGINNING C&W DANCE
WITH KITTY SWOBODA AND JASON
CLARK
CLASSES HELD AT GRAHAM CENTRAL STATION
— LEARN TO TWO-STEP, POLKA,
WALTZ, COTTON-EYED JOE,
SCHOHISCHE ETC.
— MEETS SUNDAYS 6:45-8:00
P.M.
— 4 WEEKS $7.00
• ADVANCED C&W
WITH KITTY SWOBODA AND JASON
CLARK
CLASSES HELD AT GRAHAM CENTRAL STATION
— LEARN THE DOUBLE TWO-STEP,
THE TEXAS TEN-STEP AND MORE
— MEETS SUNDAYS 5:30-6:45 P.M.
— 4 WEEKS $7.00
> BARTENDING
— AN INTRODUCTION TO BAR-
TENDING
-MEETS MONDAY (A) 2-4:30 P.M.
TUESDAY (B) 2-4:30 P.M.
WEDNESDAY (C) 2-4:30 P.M.
THURSDAY (D) 2-4:30 P.M.
-INSTRUCTOR HECTOR RIVERA
-4 WEEKS-FEE $12.00
I