Women's Golf Prepares for Pac-10 Champs
EUGENE - After team and individual wins last weekend in the Illini Spring Classic, the No. 43 University of Oregon women’s golf team will face its steepest challenge of the season next week in the Pacific-10 Conference Championships.
The three-day, three-round tournament will be hosted by the University of Arizona at Oro Valley Country Club in Tucson, Ariz., Mon.-Wed., April 24-26.
More tournament information will be available soon at the www.Pac-10.org and www.ArizonaAthletics.com websites.
The 20th annual Pac-10 Championships will feature a 10-team field that is all top-50 ranked this week, and their rankings follow: No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Arizona State, No. 6 USC, No. 12 California, No. 19 Arizona, No. 21 Stanford, No. 27 Washington, No. 42 Washington State and No. 49 Oregon State.
In the national individual rankings, Duck freshman Cathryn Bristow climbed four spots in this week’s individual rankings (101st, 74.39 rating) after a 37-spot improvement the previous week. Junior Kim McCready stood 157th (74.96 rating) two weeks ago but was again unranked this week because she has missed much of the spring season with an injury.
A link to current national women’s golf GolfWeek / Sagarin team and individual rankings is available at the http://www.golfweek.com/college/around_campus/index.php URL address.
In last year’s Pac-10 Championships hosted by Cal, the Ducks finished eighth on the Ruby Hill Golf Course (922, 308-308-306). Four current Ducks played the event ? senior Erin Andrews (28th-tie, 231, 79-74-78), sophomore Victoria Wenslow (31st-tie, 232, 76-77-79), McCready (37th-tie, 234, 78-82-74) and senior Michelle Timpani (47th-tie, 246, 83-80-73).
This year’s Duck roster has also combined for nine other appearances in recent Pac-10 Championships, courtesy of Andrews (2003, 40th-tie, 238; 2004, 43rd-tie, 246; 2005, 28th-tie, 231), Timpani (2003, 54th, 248; 2004, 34th-tie, 239; 2005, 47th, 246), junior Therese Wenslow (2003, 36th-tie, 236; 2004, 48th, 251) and McCready (2004 ? 21st-tie, 235).
The Ducks return after team and individual wins last Sat.-Sun., April 14-15 in the Illini Spring Classic on the University of Illinois’ Stone Creek Golf Course. UO carded a four-player, final round of 303 for a two-round tally of 610 ? five strokes better than Michigan (second, 615, 313-302) in a 16-team field that also included three other Big Ten teams - Iowa (third, 618, 308-310), Illinois (fourth, 619, 314-305) and Indiana (fifth, 620, 314-306).
Individually last weekend, Bristow won her second tourney title of the season with a tourney low, even par final round 72 to finish at 2-over (146, 74-72) on the 5,909-yard course. Bristow won the title by one stroke, and UO had two other players in the top-20 overall - Therese Wenslow and Timpani, who tied for 17th at 155 after final rounds of 76 and 77, respectively. Other Duck finishers included Andrews (48th-tie, 162, 76-86) and Victoria Wenslow (54th-tie, 165, 87-78).
Complete first round results are available at the University of Illinois athletic department website at the http://fightingillini.cstv.com/sports/w-golf/ill-w-golf-body.html URL link.
In her collegiate debut last September, Bristow also posted an individual victory by one stroke in the OSU Invitational (70-74-73-217) at Trysting Tree Golf Course. In the same event, UO took second with a score of 894 (298-301-295) for their previous team-high placing of 2005-06.
Looking ahead past next week, the Ducks will await word on the afternoon of Monday, May 1 to see if they will earn an invitation to one of three NCAA Regional Championships. UO has qualified as a team three times in head coach Shannon Rouillard’s previous five seasons as the Duck mentor, and the squad took ninth in 2001, tied for eighth in ’04 and placed 10th last season.
Looking ahead past next week, the Ducks will await word on the afternoon of Monday, May 1 to see if they will earn an invitation to one of three NCAA Regional Championships. The three-day, three-round contests will be hosted by Texas A&M University, the University of Washington and Wake Forest University on Thu.-Sat., May 11-13. UO has qualified as a team three times for regional play in head coach Shannon Rouillard’s previous five seasons as the Duck mentor, and the squad took ninth in 2001, tied for eighth in ’04 and placed 10th last season.
More NCAA tournament information will be available at the www.NCAA.org and www.ohiostatebuckeyes.cstv.com websites.
Going back into the Pac-10 record books, UCLA won the conference team crown last year by four strokes (874, 289-290-295) over Arizona State (second, 878, 297-292-289) and USC (third, 880, 291-295-294). ASU’s Louisa Stahle won the individual title by two strokes (207, 69-71-67) over UCLA’s Susie Mathews (second, 209, 68-71-70) and Arizona’s Cassandra Kirkland (third-tie, 211, 72-67-72) and Washington State’s Kim Welch (third-tie, 211, 70-66-65).
Oregon’s highest finish in the league finale came in 1991 and 1993 when they tied for fourth in the events held in Eugene and Walla Walla, Wash., respectively. In that same time period, the Ducks added fifth-place finishes in 1992, ’94, ’95 and ’97 to go along with a sixth-place finish in ’96.
UO head coach Shannon 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 29th 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.
- www.GoDucks.com ?
