Tulsa
NCAA Regional
Tulsa Women Golfers Advance to NCAA Championships
5/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
May 7, 2005
Lubbock, Texas - The Tulsa women's golf team qualified for the NCAA Championships by finishing in a fifth-place tie at the NCAA Central Regional on Saturday. The Hurricane carded the third best round of the day with a 12-over par 300 score at the par-72 Rawls Course for a 908 54-hole total.
Tulsa, which failed to make the NCAA field a year ago, will be one of 24 teams competing at the NCAA Championships, May 17-20, at the Meadows Golf Course in Sunriver, Oregon. The top eight teams and the low two individuals from each of the three regional tournaments -- Central, East and West -- advanced to the NCAA Championships on Saturday.
While the Hurricane team moved up from ninth place at the start of the day and into fifth place, senior Lee-Anne Pace jumped from 14th place and finished third overall in the field of 107 participants. She fired a one-under par 71 and finished with a 5-over par 221 total.
Auburn's Diana Ramage placed first with a four-under par score of 212 after a five-under 67 today, while Arizona State's Louise Stahle finished in second place with a 219 total.
The top-eight teams to advance from the Central region included first-place Auburn with a five-over par total of 896, Texas A&M (903), Missouri (905) Arizona State (906), Tulsa and Purdue (908), Michigan State (909) and Arkansas (915).
The Hurricane, ranked 21st nationally according to Golfstat, finished ahead of four teams ranked higher than Tulsa, including New Mexico, LSU, Wake Forest and Arkansas. New Mexico, LSU and Wake Forest failed to advance to the NCAA Championships. Also failing to advance was one of the co-leaders after two rounds, Baylor, as the Lady Bears carded a round of 320 today.
Since the first year that an NCAA Championship for Women's Golf took place in 1982, Tulsa will now be making the school's 19th appearance in the 24 years of the event.
"I'm excited for these girls. They've worked so hard all year long. This tournament was similar to the way we've played all year, when someone struggled, someone else stepped in and played well. Polly and Leisl were the ones that stepped up this tournament, and Lee-Anne is just going out and earning All-America honors. She has the attitude to go out and win every time on the course," said Tulsa Head Coach Holley Hair.
"Lee-Anne knew that when she transferred here from Murray State that she'd have an opportunity to make it to the NCAA Championship, whereas she wouldn't have had that chance before. Our team wanted to make that happen for her," added Hair.
With her third-place performance, Tulsa's Pace has now finished among the top-10 in Tulsa's last seven tournaments, while placing among the top-5 in the last four events. In today's final round, she birdied holes #5, #12 and #17, while suffering back-to-back bogey's on the par-4 seventh and eighth holes.
Hurricane freshman Polly Travica turned in a huge performance this week posting her best collegiate performance with a 13th place finish. Her previous best performance this year for the Hurricane was 21st at the Western Athletic Conference Championship.
Today, Travica fired a two-over par 74 for a nine-over par total of 225. She birdied holes #2, #4 and #12. She had three bogeys as well, and suffered a double bogey on the par-4 eighth hole to go two-over par on the front nine, while she rebounded to shoot even-par on the final nine holes.
Fellow freshman Leisl Hasbrouck also turned in a solid tournament by finishing in 28th place with a 228 total after carding a four-over par 76 on Saturday. Junior Cas Bridge finished in 60th place with a 234 total after her final round 79 counted in Tulsa's scoring today.
Freshman Michale Cavener finished with a round of 80 and placed 80th overall with a 238 total.
Tulsa will be looking for the school's fifth national title and third NCAA crown, May 17-20, in Sunriver, Oregon. The Hurricane has finished among the top-10 at the NCAA Championship 14 times. In Tulsa's last appearance at the NCAA Championships the Hurricane placed 21st in 2003.
Team Results 1. Auburn 294-309-293=896 2. Texas A&M 293-310-300=903 3. Missouri 291-312-302=905 4. Arizona State 296-310-300-906 5. Tulsa 298-311-300=908 Purdue 295-309-304=908 7. Michigan State 300-307-302=909 8. Arkansas 300-311-304=915 9. Texas 290-317-309=916 10. LSU 298-316-303=907 11. Kent State 302-307-309=921 SMU 310-313-298=921 13. Baylor 302-301-320=923 New Mexico 291-332-300=923 15. Michigan 301-320-305=926 16. Texas Tech 301-318-313=932 17. Wake Forest 302-315-316=933 18. Notre Dame 306-323-305=934 19. TCU 299-328-311=938 20. South Florida 314-317-319=950 21. Long Island 349-343-349=1041Tulsa Individuals 3. Lee-Anne Pace 73-77-71=221 (+5) T13. Polly Travica 73-78-74=225 (+9) T28. Leisl Hasbrouck 75-77-76=228 (+12) T60. Cas Bridge 77-78-79=234 (+18) T80. Michaela Cavener79-79-80=238 (+22)
Top-10 Individuals 1. Diana Ramage, Auburn 68-77-67=212 (-4) 2. Louise Stahle, Arizona State 72-77-70=219 (+3) 3. Lee-Anne Pace 73-77-71=221 (+5) 4. Lisa Ferrero, Texas 70-73-79=222 (+6) Alissa Kuczka, Arizona State 72-76-74=222 (+6) 6. Brianna Broderick, Michigan 74-75-75=224 (+8) Whitney Frykman, Purdue 71-78-75=224 (+8) Nicole Hage, Auburn 74-75-75=224 (+8) Nicole Melton, Texas A&M 73-77-74=224 (+8) Onnarin Sattayabanphot, Purdue 71-78-75=224 (+8) Brooke Shelton, LSU 72-77-75=224 (+8) Christa Spedding, Texas A&M 70-78-76=224 (+8)
Players Mentioned
