March 10, 2013

Mesa, Arizona - Tulsa senior golfer Kristina Merkle carded a final round six-under par 66 on Sunday afternoon in final round action at the 2013 Clover Cup to take home individual medalist honors.

Merkle began the day in 10th place and six shots behind the two-round leader Jenny Haglund of SMU. She finished with a 54-hole total of six-under par 210 and finished two strokes ahead of second-place Chirapat Jao-Javanil of Oklahoma.

Beginning the day on hole 6 in the shotgun start, Merkle had a bogey-free final round and turned in a birdie on the par-4 10th for her first of the day. She then went three straight holes - Nos. 14, 15, and 16 - with birdies and took a four-under par score into her final 11 holes. Merkle birdied the par-4 second and fourth holes and then went even-par on her final two holes of the day to finish by tying her best-ever collegiate round of 66.

The individual title was Merkle's second collegiate tournament victory. Her previous win came as a freshman at the Johnie Imes Invitational, just her third collegiate event. She know has placed among the top-5 in 15 of 36 career tournaments.

The Hurricane finished the 2013 Clover Cup in fourth place with a total of 891 after shooting the second-best round of the day with a score of 293 today, while Oklahoma captured the team title with a two-under par score of 862. SMU finished in second place with a score of 880, followed by Texas Tech (882), Tulsa (891) and host Notre Dame (892) to round out the top-five teams.

Fellow senior Shu-Yin Liu placed 22nd overall with a score of 224 after turning in a score of 75 today. Antonia Von Wnuck placed 28th with a 226 total. Karson Bizzell finished in 57th place, followed by Heather Smith in 72nd place overall. Bizzell scored a three-round total of 233, while Smith had a score of 238.

Team Results
1.	Oklahoma	281-289-292=862
2.	SMU     	299-284-297=880
3.	Texas Tech	296-293-293=882
4.	Tulsa   	303-295-293=891
5.	Notre Dame	298-298-296=892
6.	Northwestern	285-303-305=893
7.	FIU     	305-290-301=896
8.	Minnesota	296-304-304=904
9.	Mississippi	303-307-296=906
10.	Colorado	301-308-304=913
11.	Kansas  	312-301-304=917
12.	Michigan	303-307-311=921
13.	Nebraska	312-312-313=937
14.	Cincinnati	322-310-305=937
15.	Georgetown	315-310-315=940
16.	Illinois	321-321-324=966
Tulsa Individuals
1.	Kristina Merkle 	72-72-66=210
T22.	Shu-Yin Liu     	77-72-75=224
T28.	Antonia Von Wnuck	77-74-75=226
T57.	Karson Bizzell	        77-79-77=233
T72.	Heather Smith     	84-77-77=238
Top-5 Individuals
1.	Kristina Merkle			72-72-66=210 (-6)
2.	Chirapat Jao-Javanil, Oklahoma	71-70-71=212 (-4)
T3.	Emily Collins, Oklahoma	        71-71-72=214 (-2)
T3.	Jenny Haglund, SMU	        71-67-76=214 (-2)
T5.	Hana Lee, Northwestern	        66-73-76=215 (-1)
T5.	Taylor Schmidt, Oklahoma	70-72-73=215 (-1)
T5.	Kimberly Kaufman, Texas Tech	74-69-72=215 (-1)