ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The day’s story seemed like a no-brainer. Amanda Blumenherst and Stacy Lewis were paired together for the first time in Round 3 of the NCAA Championship. The best players in the country squaring off in Lewis’ last college event, with nothing less than Player of the Year honors on the line. This should be good.
Several hours later, a mere three holes into the round, I started making a list of the day’s bizarre occurrences. There’s a lot of idle time here in Albuquerque, where the only things moving at a quick clip are the jackrabbits dashing through fairways.
And so a list of bizarre events seemed more appropriate from this unusual championship, where the nation’s most talented teams still managed to rise to the top despite battling wind, rain, hail, heat, chilly temps and darkness.
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Fire and ice: Blumenherst and Lewis teed off No. 4 to start Round 3 and made it to the green when the horn blew to suspend play. We all piled into a nearby school bus to wait out the ensuing storm. Hail covered nearby putting surfaces and tees. Players on the bus wondered, what’s next? A brush fire?
(I later found out that my colleague, Asher Wildman, led another busload of folks in a version of
“The Wheels on the Bus.” I can’t sing, so our bus was spared.)
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Snoozefest: Texas A&M’s Ashley Freeman slept on the bus. Keep in mind it was standing room only on this rig and anything but quiet. Then again college kids are masters of the power nap.
“What did the rules official say?” Freeman asked as she got off the bus. “I was sleeping.”
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She did what?: In what might rank as the day’s most bizarre occurrence, Blumenherst shanked her third shot on the fifth hole. Undoubtedly rattled, the Duke junior went on to double-bogey the par 5. In true Blumenherst fashion, however, she birdied No. 6. That might be the first and the last time we see her hit that kind of shot.
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Four’s a crowd: A dozen players and coaches were gathered on the seventh tee box, waiting for the green to clear. Players went off in foursomes this afternoon, a rare occurrence in college golf unless carts are involved.
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Fighting Jackrabbits: As soon as I walked into the media room, a college SID told me he saw jackrabbits duking it out on the seventh tee this morning. Too bad I slept through that.
• Simmer down now: Oklahoma State’s Jaclyn Sweeney ended her team’s chance at a top 5 finish when she slammed a club in her bag during the second round. Sweeney fractured a finger and will be out four to six weeks. The Cowgirls, who must now play with four players, were in seventh place after the first round but are now T-13 without their No. 2 player. Sweeney, ranked No. 11 by Golfweek, joined OSU in the spring season and won the Big 12 Championship. Freak accident, but good lesson in anger management. Too bad it came at the biggest event of the year.
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Where are we again?: Last time I checked, we were in the desert. But strangely enough temperatures have hovered in the low 50s all day. While California teams bundled up in layers and jumped around to stay warm, the Denver Pioneers were walking around in short sleeves. Auburn’s Candace Shepperle gets the bizarre wardrobe award: Knee-high orange and blue socks kept her legs warm.
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Back to the top: Word on the street is Lewis has to beat Blumenherst decisively this week to upset the two-time POY for NGCA honors. Neither played particularly well today and must return early Friday morning to complete the third round. Might need her third consecutive final-round 66 at the NCAA Championship to pull this one off.
Don’t count her out yet.
Posted: 5/22/2008
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