The New Mexico University team and head coach with the Mountain West Conference team trophy.

Jodi Ewart's birdie blitz finish
wins Conference title again

Curtis Cup team selection Jodi Ewart (New Mexico University) came from behind over the final round to win the Mountain West Women's Conference championship over her home college course at Albuquerque.

She is the first player ever to win the MWC title two years in a row and the first New Mexico University to win two back-to-back tournaments since its women's golf programme was set up in 1977.
Jodi, 20, who had slipped out of the lead with rounds of 72 and 75, staged a spectacular birdie blitz finish to win the day with a third-round 72, one under par for the 6167yd course.
Catterick Golf Club member Miss Ewart, who had a quadruple bogey 9 at the fifth hole in the second round, bogeyed the second and third in her final round before birdieing the fourth. Turning in one-over-par 38, she bogeyed the 10th but then she came storming up into a winning lead by birdieing the 15th, the short 17th and the long 18th for an inward half of two-under-par 34.
Her 54-hole total of 219 matched the par figure. Jodi, the English stroke-play champion, had 10 birdies in all over the three days.
She won by two strokes in the end from team-mate Morgan Grantham (74-221) and Natalie Jimenez (Brigham Young) (74-221).
New Mexico won the team event for the first time since 2003 with a total of 888 - 19 shots ahead of runners-up Brigham Young with UNLV (916) third of seven teams.

Jodi Ewart and Valentine Derrey (Texas Christian University) from France were later named Co-Players of the Year for the Mountain West Women's Conference and both were listed in the all-Mountain West Conference women's team for the 2007-2008 season, which is the Americna way of officially naming the perceived best players in the conference.

New Mexico University's Jill Trujillo was named conference women's coach of the year. "I couldn't be happier for the team," she said. "We fought through some early adversity to take the title. It was a total team effort."

New Mexico University's victory puts them into the post-season play-offs with first the regional championship from May 8 to 10 at either Athens, Georgia or Sacramento, California. The big incentive for them to qualify from the regional to the NCAA women's national championship from May 20 to 23 is that their Albuquerque course is the venue for the climax to the season.

Jodi and the rest of the GB&I Curtis Cup team report to St Andrews on Sunday, May 27.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 219 (3 x 73)
219 Jodi Ewart (New Mexico) 72 75 72.
221 Morgan Grantham (New Mexico) 76 71 74, Natalie Jimenez (Brigham Young) 74 73 74.
TEAM TOTALS
888 New Mexico.
907 Brigham Young.
916 UNLV.
Seven teams took part