Oct. 9, 2007

SAN MARCOS - The impact the 2007 signing class is making on Texas State's women's golf team has been apparent since the start of the fall season.

The Bobcats captured the Chip-N Club Invitational at the University of Nebraska last month. In their last outing, the squad finished in a tie for third at the weather-shortened Marilyn Smith Sunflower Classic hosted by Kansas State.

Besides the on-course performance, the Bobcat rookies' success is now showing up statistically. In the latest Golfstat national rankings, Texas State's freshman class leads the nation in Freshman Class Impact Ranking. All five of the Bobcats' top golfers are statistically in the team's top five.

The Texas State freshmen's 629.991 relative strength number leads the country.

"I am very pleased with the production of our freshmen," said Texas State second-year coach Mike Akers. "The great news is that they still haven't played to their potential. At some point we will shoot a team, 18-hole round at under par. Everyday they are working to become better students, better golfers and better people."

No program has four freshmen in their top three while three schools have three freshmen among their top five. LSU is second behind Texas State with three freshmen and the Tigers have a 483.411 relative strength. UCLA with two freshmen among its top five has a 395.876 relative strength.

The other two programs with three freshmen among their top five are Central Florida (No. 4) and James Madison. Rounding out the top 10 schools statistically according to relative strength are Alabama (No. 5), Southern Cal (No. 6), Chattanooga (No. 7), Wake Forest (No. 8), Auburn (No. 9) and Furman (No. 10.

Golfstat administers the computer ratings used by the NCAA Championship selection committee for the NCAA Championships. The company awards the Golfstat Cup to the men's and women's collegiate golfer with the lowest yearly scoring average and presents statistical awards to players and teams in the following categories: Par 3 Scoring, Par 4 Scoring, Par 5 Scorings, Putts on GIR, Greens in Regulation, Fairways Hit, Sub Par Strokes per Round and Total Short Game success.