When: May 8-10
Where: University of Texas Golf Club, Austin, Texas
Who: Only two of the top 10 teams in the
Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings – No. 2 UCLA and No. 6 Purdue – the fewest of any of the three regionals. However, there are seven top-25 schools – No. 11 Denver, No. 12 Alabama, No. 15 Kent State, No. 16 Pepperdine, No. 19 Texas A&M, No. 23 Texas and No. 24 LSU.
Scoop: UCLA is No. 2 in the
Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings, but got shipped to the Central because it resides in the same region as top-ranked USC. Bruins head coach Carrie Forsyth said she relishes the challenge of playing the University of Texas Golf Club, where 47 over par won the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational earlier this year.
“Quite frankly, we welcome the opportunity,” she said. “Playing a tougher golf course more closely resembles the conditions – both physically and mentally – that we’ll encounter at the NCAA Championship.”
The Bruins are seeking their eighth consecutive trip to nationals under Forsyth, and won regionals in 2002, ‘04 and ‘05. Another West Coast team – USC – has won the past two Central Regionals.
Short shots: Fifth-seeded Kent State is coming off a 51-stroke victory in the Mid-American Conference championship. The Flashes, who finished no lower than fifth in any of their 10 events this season, attained their highest regional seed in program history. ... Sixth-seeded Pepperdine is making its 10th consecutive regional appearance; the Waves have advanced to the NCAA Championship in eight of the past nine seasons.
Who can crack the top 8?: Tenth-seeded Texas could hook a spot in the NCAA Championship. The 23rd-ranked Longhorns are playing on their home track, where they finished third at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational earlier this spring.
The Longhorns are in their first postseason under coach Martha Richards. They’re looking to advance to their first NCAA Championship as a team since 2004.
Fun fact: Five of the 21 teams are from Texas – Texas A&M, Texas, TCU, Texas Tech and Texas State.
Solo act: Three of the top 10 players in the country are in the field – No. 3 Tiffany Joh of UCLA, No. 7 Maria Hernandez of Purdue and No. 10 Taylore Karle of Pepperdine.
Nos. 15-19 in the
Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings are also in Austin – Florida State’s Caroline Westrup, UCLA’s Glory Yang and Maria Jose Uribe (pictured), Alabama’s Kathleen Ekey and Purdue’s Christel Boeljon.
Westrup advanced to last year’s NCAA Championship as an individual. Ekey, who played for Furman last year, lost a tiebreaker to advance to the finals as an individual after her playoff with Lene Krog in the East Regional was canceled due to darkness.
Field:1. UCLA
2. Purdue (Big Ten champion)
3. Alabama
4. Denver (Sun Belt champion)
5. Kent St. (Mid-American champion)
6. Pepperdine (West Coast Conference champion)
7. LSU
8. Texas A&M
9. Notre Dame (Big East champion)
10. Texas
11. TCU
12. Florida St.
13. North Carolina St.
14. East Tennessee St. (Atlantic Sun champion)
15. Texas Tech
16. Washington
17. Nebraska
18. Harvard (Ivy League champion)
19. Texas St. (Southland Conference champion)
20. Illinois St. (Missouri Valley Conference champion)
21. Fairleigh Dickinson (Northeast Conference champion)
Individuals:Steffi Kirchmayr, College of Charleston
Sara Wikstrom, Arkansas-Little Rock
Araceli Felgueroso, Coastal Carolina
– Sean Martin
Posted: 5/7/2008
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