I
/ednesday • April 22, 1998
The Battalion
PORTS
iyp■ ■» ■
Lightning on the Links
linior Ryan Palmer joined Texas A&M from the University
f North Texas, has been looking back at competition since
! By Michael Taglienti
Staff writer
Sojne people are born Aggies, and for some it takes
ivhilr for them to decide that they really belong in Ag-
Seland. Ryan Palmer is one of those people.
Ik junior member of the Texas
(MlMen’s Golf Team attended .<
e University of North Texas #/ *...
efore he decided to transfer to
xas A&M.
|lmer began playing golf at the age
me. He played throughout school and
twice named to the All-Region team and
ce to the All-State team as a golfer at Amarillo
JSchool.
Upon graduating from Amarillo, Palmer decided
play golf for UNT. Palmer played for UNT for one
Tbefore he decided that A&M was a better place
rhim to be.
“ijwanted to be down here,” Palmer said. ‘
to A&M for better competition, better
laments and better opportunities to im-
my game.”
mer sent a letter to A&M Golf Coach Greg
is that included a rdsume of his accomplish-
lenls. Ellis offered Palmer a scholarship with-
ever seeing him play.
“Ihadn’t seen him play,” Ellis said. “He had
Ten me and he looked like a good player,
fcnt me a resume and his accomplish-
jjyAooYed y,ood. \ ptobabVy receive an av-
| of two resumes per day, and his really
I out.”
jjPalmer has come into his own in the
Bg of his junior year. He won con- ^
■live tournaments earlier in the
■when he won the Louisiana Clas-
land the Border Olympics.
■Jmer’s stellar spring performance is a
ast to the ia\\ season when be struggled,
ilmer said he struggled in the fall because he be
lt a little burned out on the game of golf.
‘last semester I kind of got in a slump,” Palmer
lid. "I kind of got burned out. I had played all
irough the summer and that led to some physical
oblems with my elbows.”
er took some time away from the game, and
eveloped a new outlook towards golf.
“I took a break for a couple of weeks and came out
f I with a whole new outlook,” Palmer said. “I
■£&G}
changed my clubs, started having fun, and it paid off.
I started to play better.”
Palmer’s teammate, senior Miguel del Angel, said
that the difference in his game was evident.
“Everything just started clicking for him,” del An
gel said. “He is driving the ball well and hitting it close
and making the putts. He finally believes that he can
do it and it is showing.”
Ellis said that Palmer is a good player and a team
leader.
“He (Palmer) is a very solid
player and individual and is a
very talented player as well,” El
lis said. “He is a leader and is a
jokester. He has a good per
spective on the game.
“He knows what to
say and how to say it.
He can make a bad
situation a good sit
uation with one
of his jokes.”
The golf
| team has
^ recently
had a two-
week break from tourna
ments.
Palmer said that he
thinks the break will
help the team play bet
ter.
“I’m looking forward
o to it (the Big 12 Tourna-
a ment),” Palmer said. “I
cc think that these last two
weeks off were a great
help. We had a chance
to rest and relax
after three
straight weeks of
tournaments.”
Palmer said that
he likes his chances
at an individual title at
the Big 12 Tournament.
“I’m feeling more confident now,” Palmer
said. “I think I’m playing better now than when
I won those two tournaments earlier in the year.
I think I am striking the ball better. I feel I have a
pretty good shot at it.”
Swedish import Isabella Rosberg anchors Aggies’ No. 10
Women’s Golf Team, has plans for future professional career
By Robert Hollier
Staff writer
Playing in a sport that does not
often receive as much attention or
glamour as football or baseball, golf
can provide as much intense pres
sure and suspense for fans and
players as any sport in the world.
And that is just the way Texas
A&M lady golfer Isabella Rosberg
likes it.
Originally from Sweden, Ros
berg said she got started in the
sport through the help and support
of her family, especially her father.
“My dad has been playing for
a long time,” she said. “He also
teaches people how to play and I
would just hang around and fol
low him. I was always with him
watching him show people how
to play and that is how I learned
to play.
“My mother and my brother
also started playing and I would go
out and play against them a lot.”
As one of the leading golfers on
the No. 10 Texas A&M Women’s Golf
Team, Rosberg has been a constant
and stable competitor for the four
years she has been playing.
She has made plans to continue
playing on the LPGA Tour when her
collegiate career comes to a close.
“I’m probably going to turn pro
in November,” Rosberg said. “I’ve
played as an amateur on the pro
tour in the Compaq Open and fin
ished 30th. I had the best amateur
finish and I got to play with Helen
Alfredson.
“It was a great experience for
me. Playing at that level takes
some of the pressure off the col
lege game because I’ve played at a
higher level before.”
As Rosberg’s game has contin
ued to improve, she maintains the
most consistent part of her game is
her short game.
“Right now, my wedge play is my
strongest area,” she said. “It was not
my better side of my game last year
so I practiced and worked on it re
ally hard and it has become my
strongest area."
Jeanne Sutherland, head
coach of the women’s golf
team, said Rosberg’s short
game is definitely her most
consistent aspect of the
game.
“It’s always been good,”
Sutherland said. “She
worked very hard to
improve in that area
and she has contin
ued to improve her
whole game every
year. She is very
determined and
works very hard.”
Even though
Sutherland never saw
Rosberg play, she heard
about her from friends
and coaches.
“I went by word-of-
mouth,” she said. “I saw
her scores and they
were usually very consis
tent. I knew her scores
would translate
because the
courses where
she played were
harder than
most of the
courses she
would be
playing on
here.”
,
During Rosberg’s college ca
reer, she has had the opportunity
to meet and play against other
great golfers from Sweden.
“My favorite golfer is Anika
Sorenstan and I got to meet Jesper
Parnivik at a camp,” Rosberg said.
“Whenever they have suc
cess on tour, they would come
and talk to us and tell us how
to improve our games.”
Even though her college
career will end this
year, with the hard
work and dedica
tion Rosberg puts
■ N forward to her
game, there is a
good chance
that she will
have a long
professional
career.
Most
likely, we
will be see
ing a lot
more of
her on the
LPGA Tour
for many
years.
gie comeback falls short against Cougars
xas A&M pushes University of Houston to ten innings, loses 9-7 on home run
By Robert Hollier
Staff writer
JVith two swings of the bat,
loiiston Cougar center fielder
jjikc Medrano ended all hopes for
njl&M comeback as the Aggies
ill (o the Cougars 9-7 in 10 in-
ings Tuesday in front of 2,027
ins at Olsen Field.
Iloing into the top of the ninth
ith A&M holding a 7-6 advan-
Ke, Medrano lined a solo home
in over the right field wall off re-
We took the lead.
Wt just couldn’t
hold on to it.”
Mark Johnson
Texas A&M Coach
■
t
er Eric French to tie the score
■Seven.
■Then, with two outs in the top
Jfthe tenth, after a Cougar single
drano came up and hit his sec-
id homer of the game over the
gilt center field fence off Court-
w Weller to secure their win.
[Her drops to 1-3 on the year
[h the loss.
“It’s crazy, Mike Medrano just
led us for two home runs,”
iach Mark Johnson said. “We
ttled back and got the lead. We
dn’t pitch well early, but we got
me good relief work with Chris
iss and I thought (Eric) French
ve us a chance.
“We took the lead, we just
uldn’t hold on to it. They’ve got
me good players.”
The Cougars started the scor-
|in the first with back-to back
iubles after a walk and took a
lick 2-0 lead.
A&M answered with an RBI
igle off the bat of third baseman
aig Kuzmic.
tlv Houston padded their lead in
1 * |e second with two more runs off
rv/j starter Chance Caple who threw
U() o innings, giving up four runs on
^ k hits and one strikeout.
ROBERT MCKAY/The Battalion
Junior third baseman Craig Kuzmic gets tagged out while trying to steal third base. Aggie pitching got tagged
for a two-run homer in the tenth by Houston’s Mike Medrano to win the game for the Cougars.
Trailing 4-1, the Aggies closed
the gap to 4-3 when Kuzmic dou
bled in Jason Tyner and Steve Scar
borough who had both singled ear
lier in the inning.
Kuzmic went 2-5 with a single
and a double and drove in three
which give him 44 for the season.
“They were throwing me a lot
of junk over the plate,” Kuzmic
said, “and I just hit it. It was disap
pointing, we definitely should
have won this game.”
Going into the bottom of the
sixth, trailing 6-3, the Aggie bats
came through for four runs on six
hits to give them a momentary 7-
6 lead.
The inning started with singles
from John Scheschuk and Daylan
Holt followed an RBI single from
Steven Truitt.
After Eric Sobek popped out,
Sean Heaney and Scott Sandusky
each drove in a run with singles
followed by Steve Scarborough’s
RBI groundout.
The Aggies would hold the lead
until Medrano hit the two home
1
Baseball
Update
Record: 34-15, 16-8 Big 12
Next Game: at Kansas
Time: Friday at 7 p.m.
Scheduled Starters:
Ryan Rupe (7-4,3.30 ERA)
vs. Kansas TBA
runs to give them their come-
from-behind win.
“He’s a good hitter,” Johnson
said. “I give them a lot of credit,
they got a good ball club.
“They’re leading their confer
ence and they’ve definitely got
some good players. We have to
move on. We got some tough con
ference games coming up and
we’re in the thick of the race.
There are quite a few teams in the
hunt. The Oklahoma teams are
making a move.”
During the game, Baylor, who
was leading the Big 12, lost their
first game to Kansas State 4-2,
which puts A&M at the top of the
conference by percentage points.
The Aggies are 16-8 in the Big 12
and are 34-15 overall.
The Aggies will be on the road
this weekend when they travel to
Lawrence, Kan., for a three-game
series with the Kansas Jayhawks.
Ryan Rupe (7-4, 3.30 ERA) is the
scheduled starter for Friday night’s
game. Casey Possum (8-2, 3.11
ERA) will take the mound on Sat
urday afternoon for the Aggies
and Matt Ward (6-2,4.70 ERA) will
go on Sunday in a 1 p.m. start.
Dallas Cowboys boost talent pool
by signing undrafted free agents
IRVING, Texas (AP) — Former
Texas Tech quarterback Zebbie
Letheridge is
among 16 col
lege free agents
who have
agreed to con
tracts with the
Dallas Cowboys
in the wake of
the NFL Draft.
Letheridge,
who signed
with Dallas as a
defensive back, and the others will
join the rest of the team at a mini
camp starting this Friday, the team
said Tuesday.
The free agents are all players
who were not selected in the draft,
which wrapped up on Sunday.
Letheridge
Dallas
Free Agents
♦ Ronald Bailey, cb, Georgia
♦ Kent Booth, g, Northern Illinois
+ Greg Bright, lb, Georgia
♦ Barry Cantrell, k/p, Fordham
♦ Chike Egbunlwe, lb, Duke
♦ Anthony Eubanks, wr, Arkansas
♦ Junior Fllikitonga, dt, Abilene Chrst.
♦ Denny Fortney, de, Miami
♦ Cory Geason, te, Tulane
♦ Daniel Gonzalez, qb, East Carolina
♦ Michael Hicks, cb, UTEP
♦ Taj Johnson, wr, San Diego State
♦ Zebbie Lethridge, db, Texas Tech
♦ Jeff Ogden, wr, Eastern Washington
♦ Bobby Rodriguez, fb, Houston
♦ David Zadel, de/lb, Wake Forest
Huge San Antonio lineup
concerns Suns in playoffs
PHOENIX (AP) — Danny Ainge
does not buy into the depiction of
San Antonio as a Jekyll-and-Hyde
team, with David Robinson and Tim
Duncan towering over a backcourt
puny in ability as well as stature.
“I don’t think of the Spurs’ back-
court as a weakness at all,” the
Phoenix Suns coach said. “VinnyDel
Negro, Jaren Jackson and Avery John
son have been
terrific. Maybe
they are not
David Robinson
and Tim Dun
can, where
they’re MVPs or
whatever, but
they are not a
weakness.”
The Spurs
and Suns had
the same record (56-26). But
Phoenix won the first three of four
regular-season meetings and is at
home for the first-round playoff
opener Thursday night.
That does not impress Duncan,
who won the rookie of the month
honor six straight months while
recording an NBA-high 57 games
with double figures in scoring and
rebounding.
“They’ve got to win three games
to take us out of it. We’re feeling
Poppovich
pretty good,” Duncan said.
Robinson has recovered from
the concussion and knee sprain he
developed when Utah’s Karl Malone
elbowed him in the head on April 8.
Robinson, who missed six games
earlier because of another knee
problem, sat out three and then re
turned to the starting lineup last
week with 22 points, eight rebounds
and six assists against Seattle.
“They played a lot better down the
stretch than they did early in the sea
son,” Ainge said. “I think the series we
had with them during the regular
season you pretty much throw out
the window, because I don’t think
they’re the same team and I don’t
think we’re the same team.”
Robinson actually was subpar
on his return. He averaged 21.6
points and 10.6 rebounds this sea
son, and Duncan (21.1, 11.9) made
the Spurs the eighth team to have
two players average in double fig
ures in both categories.
Will Perdue probably will start at
center, an arrangement that pro
duced a 16-5 record when coach
Gregg Popovich used San Antonio’s
three 7-footers.
But Perdue’s presence on the
floor masks the absence of Sean El
liott, who tore his left quadriceps in
January and is on the injured list.