The women’s golf team had much to celebrate Tuesday after the conclusion of the MSU/Payne Stewart Memorial tournament, which began Sunday.

Sophomore Maria Alejandra Villalobos took the title in the tournament while her team came in fourth place overall. Villalobos is the first individual winner since the 2010-11 season.

Villalobos 54-hole score of 216 tied for best in Shocker history with Meghan Schuetz’s score from last year’s Payne Stewart Memorial.

“I am really excited about the win,” Villalobos said Tuesday. “The first day was really good and then the second round I was two over par going into the last couple of holes and eagled one of those so I was really confident. Today I started really strong and I figured out how to keep it going.”

Head coach Tom McCurdy said he would describe the tournament overall with its ever-changing schedule and weather.

“It was kind of a goofy tournament,” McCurdy said. “The weather was supposed to be bad Monday so they changed the schedule around — we didn’t have a practice round. We went in completely blind.”

The Shockers entered the tournament strong from the tee-off. They finished the first day of the tournament shooting 304 on the par-71 Twin Oaks Country Club, tying them for third place. Villalobos came out tied for first with a two-under-par score.

“Shooting 69 on a golf course you’ve never seen before is fantastic,” McCurdy said.

Day two of the tournament saw increased momentum from the team, despite the rainy and windy conditions, as they worked their way from third to second place, shooting a 291, coming up a mere seven shots behind Oral Roberts and the third-best 18-hole score in school history.

Villalobos remained secure in her first place position with an even par-71 score in the second round.

“The course was soaking wet with all the rain that came in on Sunday night,” McCurdy said. “Our 291 was really solid, it moved us up into second place.”

The third and final day of the tournament brought the Shockers down into fourth place, shooting a 311 in the last round. McCurdy said his team needs to work on closing a tournament out.

“[Tuesday] we shut back a little bit,” he said. “I think we just didn’t have a good clean round with a routine, we weren’t as sharp to start out and we got behind a little early. I think some of the players rebounded really well though.

“We played probably a good 45 holes, but it’s a 54-hole tournament.”

McCurdy says in order for his team to finish out tournaments they need to improve on their putting. Particularly, to eliminate what golfers call “three putting.”

McCurdy said the first putt made should put the ball within three to four feet of the hole, that way an easy second shot can be made. McCurdy says too many three putts occurred.

“[The first] putts weren’t close enough so it makes for a hard second putt,” McCurdy said. “You miss a putt, you miss a putt. There’s nothing in the game that can make up for poor putting — We have to clean up the putting.”

McCurdy said they will also work more on fundamentals and mechanics before the Rainbow Wahine Invitational tournament in Oahu, Hawaii, scheduled for Oct. 21.