Chadwell's Aggies gain 'Mo'mentum with a victory at the 'Mo'Morial

Following a first-place finish at the "Mo"Morial Invitational at Traditions Club, Texas A&M head women's golf coach Gerrod Chadwell joined us on Thursday's edition of TexAgs Live to set the stage for next week's SEC Championships at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida.

Key notes from Gerrod Chadwell interview

• The Masters app is great. You can see every shot from every player. The storylines are on there, too.
   
• Augusta is just first class in every way. Cayetana Fernández García-Poggio was disappointed. She got off to a good start and battled. She made a bogey late on her 17th hole and put her over the cut line. It was tough to make a birdie, and she ultimately missed by two. She would’ve gotten to spend Friday at Augusta and play. It just sucked for her. But we got back Saturday, and we had done some prep for the “Mo”Morial Tournament. I pulled her aside and told her I know you're tired, but you'll get my best this weekend, so I want your best. And then she played well for 54 holes with really nothing in the tank. It was pretty impressive.
   
• Fernández García-Poggio has gained this growth and maturity. She was a freshman last year and a very upperclass-led team, so hopefully, she picked up some stuff and learned from them. It’s crazy that she’s just a sophomore. I'm proud of her for that and for putting that behind her. Monday at the “Mo”Morial was very tough with the north wind we had. The courses here aren't built to take that.
   
• This spring, we've had a lot of chances to win. Two or three, maybe more. We just haven't played well in the final rounds. That was, all things considered, what you want. The Mo”Morial was the best we did all year. We had four scores under par. We talked Sunday night that the field suffered because the course was coming out of a re-grassing. Regardless, we set our standard. Tuesday's round was what we ended up seeing all year and propelled us into the SECs.
   
• If you run through the calendar year, we are young because we lost three to professional gold. In some ways, we are a better team, but you can't replace Adela Cernousek. I thought we'd get better every week, but there's stuff we don't know, and their friends are dealing with stuff in other sports. A lot is going on. You're trying to keep the main thing the main thing and just play some golf.
   
• With the House v. NCAA, they are doing the best they can. We know some things. It feels like we retract and then go forward. We could do another segment on this, but it's crazy that this is what's going on. Nothing makes sense together. I thought last night, "Was a coach in the room?" Our administration is doing the best they can for us, but we are the ones who live it daily. We have to think about roster retention, adding to the roster, fitting into a competitive environment and fitting on the scoreboard that we are ultimately judged on. It's hard.
   
• You're walking around waiting for the bomb to hit, and you're supposed to protect the pilot in every way possible. You create all the scenes so that when we do know, we can pivot and go to that. Meanwhile, the clock's ticking as seasons are going on, recruiting and all that stuff. It's an interesting time to be involved in college athletics.
   
• Vanessa Borovilos is no different from Fernández García-Poggio. She doesn't seem like a freshman anymore. She didn’t have her best Monday or Tuesday. But in the last few holes on Tuesday, she shot an under-par round. With these young ladies, the bad golf gets better, and the good golf is really good. It leads them to have some realistic opportunities outside of A&M. It gets to a point that when good golf kicks in, you can have a good week.
   
• I think we are doing a lot with this bunch right now. We only have six, so that's fun because you have a lot of time and can move the needle quickly. It's nice to see what we are going to be able to add in the future. Scarlett Schremmer had a great performance in the Augusta Women’s Amateur. We are excited to add that class to this bunch.
   
• We leave for the SEC Tournament on Saturday, come back and have our Traditions fundraiser on April 25. You can go to Aggie Women's Golf Club and sign up there. The regional sites are Lubbock, Norman, Phoenix, Kentucky, Virginia and Ohio. That's what our schedule tries to accommodate. Whatever site we get sent to, we have to finish top five to go to the National Championship. Now, it's just getting the mind right. We are trying to make sure they are healthy and hydrated and that they sleep and stay on top of academics. They need to push through the finish line, but it's crazy that this is our favorite time of the year.