Snow News is Good News as UO Golfers Head to Pinehurst Challenge
EUGENE, Ore. ? A year ago, the Oregon women’s golf team headed to North Carolina to face some of the best teams on the East Coast at the legendary Pinehurst golf complex. But the Ducks never got more than their putters out of their bags as a late snowstorm dumped a foot of snow on the Southeast.
But the forecast for the 2005 Pinehurst Challenge, single rounds scheduled each day from Sunday through Tuesday, calls for mostly sunny skies with highs in the 60s and only a 30 percent chance of rain for the final round. Oregon head coach Shannon Rouillard couldn’t be more pleased about finally getting a shot at the par-71, 6,009 yard Pinehurst No. 8 course.
"I’ve been checking The Weather Channel everyday and it looks very good," said Rouillard. "Last year, it was frustrating to travel all the way across the country and not be able to hit one shot, so we are really looking forward to playing a great golf course and showing some teams out East what we’re all about."
Though the 2004 tournament was snowed out, Oregon can lay claim to a title of sorts. With more than a dozen teams stranded at Pinehurst’s hotel an impromptu putting contest was held to help pass the time and Oregon won, though no official results were kept.
This year, the Ducks return four of those champion putters in senior Johnna Nealy, juniors Erin Andrews and Michelle Timpani and sophomore Kim McCready. Nealy and McCready have taken turns leading the squad with Nealy’s current scoring average of 74.5 a fraction ahead of McCready’s 74.6 mark. Both have three top-25 finishes in five tournaments and both are coming off a tie-for-24th at last month’s Wildcat Invitational.
While the Ducks will see more East Coast teams than they will at any event this season other than the NCAA Championships, their toughest competition, ironically, might come from Pac-10 rival and 25th-ranked Washington State. The remainder of the 18-team field consists of Coastal Carolina, host College of Charleston, East Carolina, Georgia State, James Madison, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Miami, Mississippi, Mississippi State, UNC Greensboro, UNC Wilmington, Oral Roberts, Oregon, Penn State and Western Carolina.
"I think the field might actually be stronger this year than it was supposed to be last year," said Rouillard. "But on a long trip like this, like any tournament, you want to work on your consistency and if we get all five players doing that, we should have a great team finish as well as some excellent individual performances."
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