No. 28 Women's Golf Looks Ahead to Spring Opener in Tucson

EUGENE? The No. 28-ranked University of Oregon women’s golf team returns to the links for its first spring tournament this weekend, and will take on a national class field in the Wildcat Invitational, Mon.-Tue., Feb. 20-21 on the Arizona National course in Tucson, Arizona.

The three-round tournament will feature two, 18 hole-rounds on Monday and a final round on Tuesday.

The 17-team field features three top-five teams among the 16 top-30 programs on hand, and includes No. 1 Duke, No. 2 UCLA, No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 Pepperdine, No. 6 Auburn, No. 8 USC, No. 9 Arizona State, No. 10 Vanderbilt, No. 12 UNLV, No. 14 Tennessee, No. 15 Washington, No. 16 Stanford, No. 18 Arizona, No. 21 California, No. 23 New Mexico and Nevada.

“Our players are looking forward to a tremendous field,” Oregon head coach Shannon Rouillard said. “We played decent there last year, so a lot of our returnees feel comfortable heading into this tournament. In practice this week, we’ve already had two of our three qualifying rounds, and we’ve had good scores and should head in with a good attitude.”

The Ducks will play a practice round, Sun., Feb. 19 on the par-72 course that measured 6,134 yards in last year’s edition.

“I think the 36 holes the first day will help us, and could help to separate the field some,” Rouillard said. “If you’re playing well, you can key off the positive momentum. Even if you make a mistake on the first round, we approach the second round with a positive attitude that it’s a chance to correct it.”

Results after each round will be posted to the University of Arizona’s http://www.ArizonaAthletics.com athletic department website.

In last year’s tournament, the Ducks finished 10th with a score of 916 (300-304-312) and had two top-25 finishers - junior Kim McCready (24^th-tie, 8-over 224=73-75-76) and former Duck Johnna Nealy (24^th-tie, 8-over 224=74-75-75).

Other Ducks that played last season included seniors Erin Andrews (37^th-tie, 229=76-74-79) and Michelle Timpani (64^th, 243=81-80-82) and UO graduate Jess Carlyon (74^th, 264=77-94-83). UCLA won the team race by one stroke over Arizona (864-865), and ASU’s Louise Stahle claimed the individual crown by one stroke (209=64-72-73) over UCLA’s Charlotte Mayorkas (second, 210=70-68-72).

Looking ahead past Tucson, the Duck women will compete the following weekend in the Fresno State Invitational, Mon.-Tue., Feb. 27-28 at Copper River Country Club. UO then has a month off from competition before they host the Duck Invitational at Emerald Valley Golf Course in nearby Creswell, Ore., Mon.-Tue., March 27-28.

In last week’s Golf Week rankings, the No. Ducks stood 28^th ? one spot shy of their final fall position ? and were one of eight Pac-10 teams ranked top 30 nationally, and were joined by No. 2 UCLA, No. 8 USC, No. 9 Arizona State, No. 15 Washington, No. 16 Stanford, No. 18 Arizona, and No. 21 California, while Washington State (55^th) and Oregon State (56^th) stood top-60.

Individually, the Ducks had three players ranked top 200 nationally this week - Duck freshman Cathryn Bristow (96th, 73.34 rating), and juniors Therese Wenslow (101^st, 73.42 rating) and Kim McCready (152^nd, 74.17 rating).

A link to current national women’s golf GolfWeek / Sagarin team and individual rankings are available at the http://www.golfweek.com/college/around_campus/index.php URL address.

In their last action in the fall in the Las Vegas Founders Women’s Collegiate Showdown, Oct. 31-Nov. 2, the Ducks tied for eighth place with an 892. The then-No. 27 Ducks shot a 9-over 297 final round after they posted opening rounds of 292 and 303 on the par 72, 6,207-yard Anthem Country Club course in Henderson, Nevada. In the individual standings, redshirt junior Therese Wenslow carded two rounds of par or better and tied for 21^st overall (218=71-75-72), and was followed by Andrews (31^st, 222=77-73-72), Cathryn Bristow (44^th-tie, 226=73-75-78), McCready (55^th-tie, 231=75-81-75) and sophomore Victoria Wenslow (63^rd-tie, 234=73-80-71).

Rouillard is in her sixth season at the helm and guided Oregon to 11th place in the 2000 NCAA Championships, and top-12 West Regional finishes in 2001 (ninth), ?04 (eighth-tie) and ’05 (10th). As a player, she was a 1995 Pac-10 honorable mention all-conference honoree for UO and in 1993 took seventh and 29^th in the Pac-10 and NCAA Championships, respectively. After her collegiate career, she was a 1999 Women's U.S. Open qualifier after she claimed medalist honors in the Lake Merced (Calif.) qualifying tournament.

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University of Oregon Athletics

No. 28 Women's Golf Looks Ahead to Spring Opener in Tucson