2006 Women's Golf Outlook - University of Oregon Athletics

In her sixth year as the University of Oregon women’s golf head coach, Shannon Rouillard has the Ducks firmly planted among the West Coast’s elite programs, and UO should challenge for more conference, regional and national honors again in 2006.

In her five years at the helm, Rouillard has guided the Ducks to three top-12 West Regional finishes, and this year’s squad sports a balanced blend of seasoned championship veterans with one of the Pac-10’s top freshmen.

A pair of senior letterwinners, Erin Andrews and Michelle Timpani, will captain the team and are well-established as frequent Duck scorers the past three years.

Andrews scored in every tournament last spring and stood top three for UO in two of 2005’s three final fall classics. She capped the fall with the team’s low round her last two rounds in Las Vegas, including a season finale even-par 72.

“Erin has a tremendous amount of competitive experience,” Rouillard said. “Hopefully, we can lean on that, and have her be a major contributor.”

After she missed last fall with an injury, senior Michelle Timpani looks to regain her 2005 spring form that netted her third Pac-10 Championships trip and second West Regional Championships appearance. The Duck senior won the Santa Clara Colby Invitational in a dramatic six-hole playoff as a sophomore in 2004.

“We need to get Michelle healthy because she can challenge for a top five slot,” Rouillard said. “When she’s on her game, she can be a very consistent force.”

Junior Kim McCready has continued to emerge as a team leader and led the team the first three tourneys last spring and twice in the fall of ’05. She has noticeably improved her scoring average from a freshman (77.6) to a sophomore (75.4), and posted a similar mark last fall (75.7). Last summer she claimed the Oregon Amateur title with a win over former teammate and NCAA qualifier Johnna Nealy in the semifinal, and Vanderbilt’s Kristen Svicarovich in the final.

“Kimberly has consistently stepped up her game,” Rouillard said. “Her scoring has continued to drop, and we expect that to continue this year. She’s extremely talented, and when she gets it going, she’s hard to beat.”

Back after a redshirt year in 2004-05, junior Therese Wenslow smoothly stepped back into the Duck rotation last fall, and ranked top two on the team in three of her fall contests. She led the team in five of her 12 rounds, including one under par and two at even-par.

“Even though she redshirted last year, Therese learned a lot about herself,” Rouillard said. “She’s jumped back into our line-up as expected, and is on the verge of raising her game to an even higher level. She has also worked hard on her mental game, and that will help in the spring.”

Her sister and sophomore teammate Victoria Wenslow wrapped up a solid freshman campaign with top-three team finishes in three of her final four events of ’05. In the fall, she surged at season’s end with scores of 73 or better in two of her final four rounds, and would have challenged for a sub-77.0 fall average if she wasn’t slowed with the flu at a midseason stop.

“Victoria is a very competitive athlete and is on her way to becoming a major contributor,” Rouillard said. “She worked very hard over the summer, and this fall improved her scoring average by approximately two shots.”

Part of a pair of freshman additions, Cathryn Bristow auspiciously opened her Duck career with a victory in the Oregon State Invitational in the fall of 2005. She added three more top-three finishes on the team in her other fall appearances, and her scoring average (74.8) led the team. She had three of the team’s 12 low rounds last fall, and only four of them were higher than 75.

“Cathryn knows what she needs to do to play well,” Rouillard said. “She has a maturity that always keeps her in the game because she is very competitive.”

Freshman Blair Ressler began her collegiate career with a strong opening round in the Oregon State Invitational (73) among the two tournaments she played as an individual. Before she joined the Ducks, she claimed the 2004 Washington amateur title, and the two-time 3A state high school champion led her Bellingham squad to three straight state team titles.

“We are looking forward to Blair getting more experience in the nation’s toughest conference,” Rouillard said. “She has good instincts, and is getting more confidence. We saw some good things from her in the fall, and she will continue to improve as she gets more confidence.”

The Pacific-10 Conference will again prove an ideal training ground to ready the Ducks for the postseason run. Four league members placed top-10 in the 2005 NCAA Championships in Sunriver, Ore., and two others finished top 20. Little should change in 2006 as the Ducks were among eight teams ranked top 30 during the fall campaign.

“Cathryn’s win right off the bat along with the fact we came within three strokes of the win in our first tourney was an indicator of how good this team can be,” Rouillard said. “We had our lowest fall scoring average ever with a 301, and our most scores under 300 in a four-tournament schedule. Better yet, each player still has room to improve. It will be fun to watch them continue to develop in the spring as they gain more maturity and confidence, and our rankings and team finishes will follow suit.”

The schedule is similar to years past and includes several of the nation’s top invitationals, sprinkled among the West Coast.

“We start off in Tucson against a great field so we need to be prepared from the start,” Rouillard said. “Afterwards, we’ll welcome several good teams to Emerald Valley in Eugene in late March as we vie for team and individual titles. Afterwards, Arizona State will offer another deep field on a classic desert course full of lots of challenges. In late April, we travel to Pac-10’s at Tucson, and that opportunity will be a great lead-in to arguably our most important meet of the year, the NCAA Regional Championships. If we stay in the West, Washington National is a course we’ll be sure to familiarize ourselves with beforehand.”

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