APSU Women’s Golf
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University women’s golf team has added both a junior college and prep player for the 2011-12 season.
Lauren Bond, a sophomore from John A. Logan College in Carterville, IL, and Marta Gutiérrez, an incoming freshman from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, have signed letters of intent to play for the Lady Govs.
Last fall, she took seventh in the Rend Lake Fall Invitational. She shot a fall-best 76 in shooting 156 in the Millikin University Fall Classic. Overall, she averaged 79.71 overall for the 2010 season.
As a prep golfer at Marion High School, she was a member of the 2008 team that won region, section and Class AA State championships, going 130-2 in the process.
“Lauren has a passion for life and loves the game of golf,” APSU coach Sara Robson said. “We are excited about her joining our program and are looking forward to the things she will bring to our team. As a junior college player Lauren has gained valuable tournament experience and will bring some on-course knowledge to our team immediately.
“Lauren also has a strong iron game and her short game is improving on a daily basis. She shares the same enthusiasm and passion for the game as our players so we know she will come in and help our program.”
Gutiérrez, meanwhile, has been ranked as the No. 1 player in the Canary Islands in her age bracket since 2007 while holding a Top 20 ranking in Spain during that same time frame.
Internationally, she, who attends school at Hispano Inglés-Tenerife, played in the 2010 Girls British Open and has participated in three Junior Doral-Publix Junior Golf tournaments in Florida.
Nationally, she captured the Canary Island Regional U18, the Tenerife State U18 and the Los Palmas State championships last season. She finished first in both the 2007 and 2009 I & II Puntuable Regional tournaments and was second in both in 2008.
Last year in 30 tournament rounds, Gutiérrez averaged 77.63 strokes.
“We are very excited about having Marta join our team,” Robson said. “I have been talking with Marta for some time know and through getting to know her think she is not only going to enjoy our University, program and team, but she is going to be an asset to our program as well.
“Marta has a lot of playing experience and works very hard on her game. She has had numerous scores below 78 in tournaments over the last year and is known for being able to battle to get the ball in the hole.
“Marta is also known for begin a great student which something that we stress in our program.”
With APSU losing a trio of seniors—Chelsea Harris, Ashley Wathen and Catie Tucker—the newcomers hope to help pick up the slack.
“We are going to miss our senior class, but I feel confident with the way our girls have been playing, and adding Meghan (Mueller in the fall), Lauren and Marta this spring we are going to continue to see our program improve, and keep up the hard work on the golf course and in the classroom.”
