March 14, 2007

FRISCO - Dawie Van Der Walt and Hillary Zeigler were named Aeropostale Southland Conference men's and women's golfer of the week, respectively, on Wednesday, announced the league office.

Zeigler, a junior from Livingston, captured medalist honors at the Lady Cardinal Invitational Tuesday. He posted a 36-hole score of 72-78--150. She also helped Lamar win the team title in the 10-team field. Zeigler, a two-time All-SLC performer, leads the team with a 76.22 season scoring average over 22 rounds.

The Lady Cardinals continue their spring schedule March 27-28 at the North Texas Invitational.

Van Der Walt placed second at the General Jim Hackler Invitational hosted by Coastal Carolina with a 54-hole score of 9-under par 207, which included a season-best round of 6-under 66. He helped Lamar win the title at the 18-team Hackler Invitational with a 26-under par 838, shattering the previous tournament record by 29 strokes. All five Cardinal golfers finished among the top 15 and all five finished at even-par or better in the tournament.

A native of Cape Town, South Africa, Van Der Walt leads the team with a 71.44 season scoring average over 18 rounds. He is ranked 15th in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.

Lamar, who has won a total of three tournaments this season, is currently ranked ninth in the Golfweek rankings and 11th in the Golfstat rankings. Additionally, the Cardinals moved into the Golf World/Nike Golf Division I Coaches Poll, who released its second poll this spring on Wednesday. The poll combines the resources of Golf World magazine, Nike Golf and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA).

Lamar, who was not ranked in the initial poll this spring, received 244 votes and is ranked 15th in the country. Stanford is ranked No. 1 with 518 points, followed by Florida (486), Georgia (476), Oklahoma State (465) and Alabama (463) to round out the top five. Southern California and Coastal Carolina, who the Cardinals just beat at the Hackler Invitational, are ranked No. 7 and No. 11, respectively.

The Cardinals continue their spring schedule Friday and Saturday at the Border Olympics at Laredo Country Club.