By RICHARD CROOME
Eagle Staff Writer

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Miranda Orr may have to be nudged off the first tee box at the Big 12 Championships. She's likely to be savoring the moment.

"Honestly, I thought my chances for making a postseason team were pretty much done, especially after last year, since I didn't know I was going to get a sixth year until the summer," Orr said. "This is something I've been waiting for for six years now. Not too many people can say that."

No, they can't.

Orr is a sixth-year senior for the Texas A&M women's golf team, and Friday will be her first round for the Aggies in postseason play. She will join freshman Sarah Zwartynski, junior Lauren Johnson and sophomores Ashley Freeman and Danielle McVeigh as the Aggies go for their third consecutive Big 12 title.

Orr was a part of the team during those championship seasons, but two surgeries on her left shoulder left her playing the role of cheerleader, especially when the postseason came around.

"You have to make the most of whatever situation you are given, but that's easier said than done," Orr said. "Watching was hard because you want to be that person playing, but I was also so excited for the girls and to see them step up."

First-year A&M coach Trelle McCombs is now asking Orr to come to the forefront as the No. 5 player at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla.

"Timing is everything, and with the unfortunate setbacks of her injuries, I don't think last year was her time," McCombs said. "It works out interestingly how when we're coming down the stretch and we really need that person to have our back, she's stepped into that role."

Orr's playing time has been off and on because of the injuries. After competing in a handful of events her first two seasons, she sat out her junior year because of the first shoulder surgery. She had a second surgery the following season after doctors found the pins in her shoulder had torn.

Orr says she doesn't worry about her shoulder but does address the injury.

"There are precautionary things I do to prepare my body for competition," Orr said. "But if it tears again, it tears again, and that is out of my control. I'm doing everything I can to prevent that, but I'm not worried."

Even after getting a medical redshirt, Orr had no guarantee of playing this season. She had been a mainstay on former A&M coach Jeanne Sutherland's top five, but a new coach was coming in.

"She could have hung it up," McCombs said. "She could have said, you know what? I'm done. I'm tired of putting in the time, and it doesn't seem like I'm getting anything in return. She could have done that. I talked to her and told her, look, this is your last rodeo. It's your destiny. Take it as far as you want to take it."

Orr traveled a few times in the fall with the team but didn't secure a spot in the top five.

The same was true early in the spring, but a round of 72 in Arizona may have clinched the position for Orr, who led her high school team in Victoria to a second-place finish in Class 5A in 2002.

"I tried to give a couple of the others a chance to play, then finally I just made a decision that Miranda was the one I was going to go with," McCombs said. "I think it was more her just hearing that. That we have confidence in her was big for her."

In Florida, Orr contributed to the team score with two 75s. Her 72 was the low for the Aggies the first day of the PING/ASU Invitational, and A&M went on to finish fourth, beating out six Top 20 teams.

Orr said her scores have lowered because she's making more putts, getting up and down more.

"It's awesome because it just shows that you've overcome those doubts that you had about yourself, and now I feel like nothing can stop me," Orr said. "I know I've got the talent and the ability, and I've done it in tournament play. I just feel like there is no limit now."

And now Orr can compete in the postseason with her renewed confidence carrying her.

"It's an awesome feeling to know I'm playing in the Big 12 Tournament," Orr said. "I'm more excited than I am nervous, and I love that feeling."

• Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.

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