Lady Golfers Seek Third Title of Season at GolfWorld Invitational
This Week: Arizona's women's golf team travels to Hilton Head Island, S.C. this weekend to participate in the Rolex/Golf World/Palmetto Dunes Collegiate Invitational. The 54-hole, 12-team tournament will take place on the Arthur Hills Course at Palmetto Hall Plantation. Play runs Friday, Nov. 3, to Sunday, Nov. 5 on the par-72, 6,257 yard course. The defending national champion Wildcats have won their last two tournaments by a combined 11 strokes. Last year, Arizona outshot Duke by one stroke to capture the Golf World Invitational title.
Last Time Out: The Wildcats raced to a 15-shot lead after one round of the Stanford/Pepsi Invitational, then held on to come away with their second tournament title of the season. Individually, three Arizona golfers finished in the top 10. The Wildcats' freshmen duo of Lorena Ochoa and Natalie Gulbis shot a combined eleven strokes under par in the first round. Ochoa's 66 was the second-lowest round ever by Arizona freshman, while Gulbis' 67 was good for the third best round ever by a Wildcat freshman. Ochoa finished competition in second place with a three-under par 213, three strokes back of individual champion Stacy Prammanasudh of Tulsa. Gulbis tied for fifth after closing the tournament with rounds of 73 and 77 for a one-over-par total of 217. Junior Cristina Baena, the nation's top-ranked individual, earned a tie for ninth place with her five-over-par 221. Also scoring for the Wildcats were senior Christina Monteiro, 78-78-82=232 (+11), and sophomore Laura Myerscough, 80-73-82=235 (+19). Sophomore Anne Lee competed as an individual and finished in a tie for 54th with a 16-over-par 232. The tournament victory was Arizona's second of the young season.
The Field: All 12 teams competing in the Golf
World Invitational are ranked
in the nation's top 15 according to the MasterCard
Collegiate Golf
Rankings. Nine of the top 10 teams will participate in
the tournament.
Last Year at the Golf World Invitational: The
Cats took home their second
title of the season at 1999's Golf World Invitational. As a
team, the
Wildcats finished with a score of 875, 11-over-par, at
Arthur Hills Course
at Palmetto Hall Plantation. Senior Jenna Daniels won
the individual title
with a three-round score of 7-under-par 209. Senior Jill
Gomric finished
tied for sixth place with a 3-over-par 219, while Cristina
Baena finished
the tournament tied for 11th place (5-over-par 221) and
Julia Kraschinski
tied for 20th place (10-over-par 226). Rounding out the
Wildcat lineup was
senior Christina Monteiro who finished tied for 40th,
shooting a three-day
total of 20-over-par 236. The win was the first in a
streak of eight
consecutive tournament championships for the
Wildcats that culminated in
their 21-stroke victory at the NCAA Championships.
Fabulous Freshmen: Arizona's freshmen
tandem of Lorena Ochoa and Natalie
Gulbis are already off to impressive starts in their initial
campaigns with
the Wildcat golf program. The two currently occupy the
one and two spots
on the team and are both highly-ranked in national
polls. According to the
Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, Ochoa is
currently the top Division I
golfer in the nation, while Gulbis checks in at No. 3.
The two combined to
go 11 shots under par in round one of the
Stanford/Pepsi Invitational.
Ochoa shot a 66(-6) and Gulbis, in her first round of
collegiate golf ever,
checked in with a 67 (-5), both rounds rank near the top
on the all-time
record list for Arizona freshmen. Marisa Baena shot a
seven-under-par 65
in May 1996 for the lowest round ever by a Wildcat
freshman and Annika
Sorenstam carded a five-under 67 at the Stanford
Invitational in October
1990 for the third-best round by a UA freshman.
Ochoa's Accolades: The personal honors have
begun to pour in for Arizona
freshman sensation Lorena Ochoa. After a ninth-place
finish in her first
career collegiate competition, Ochoa ran away with the
individual crown at
the Comcast/Dick McGuire Invitational. She led the
tournament
wire-to-wire, shooting a four-under 69 on day one and
wrapping up action at
seven-under-par 212. Her performance earned her a
pair of awards. Golf
World magazine named Ochoa its Player of the Week
for the week of Sept. 29.
Ochoa was later honored by the College Golf
Foundation as the Rolex
College Golfer of the Month for September. Additionally,
Ochoa made her
debut in the latest edition of the MasterCard Collegiate
Golf Rankings at
No. 3. Ochoa continued her outstanding fall season at
the Stanford/Pepsi
Invitational by shooting a first round 66. Her
six-under-par performance
was the second best round ever by an Arizona
freshman, behind only Marisa
Baena's seven-under 65 in May 1996 at the NCAA West
Regionals.
Cats In the Polls: Arizona maintained its perch
atop the MasterCard
Collegiate Golf Rankings in the latest edition of the poll.
The Wildcats,
who had been tabbed as the Collegiate Golf
Foundation's preseason No. 1,
received 316 votes, 20 more than No. 2 Duke. Arizona's
Cristina Baena
moved into the nation's top spot from her preseason
ranking of No. 2.
Freshman Lorena Ochoa debuts in the poll at No. 3
after her performance at
the Dick McGuire Invitational. Also ranked for the
Wildcats is sophomore
Julia Kraschinski, who checks in at No. 18.
Kraschinski has been out of
action due to an injured back, but was an integral part
of last season's
national championship performance. The Wildcats
currently stand at No. 2
in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings behind the Duke
Blue Devils. Freshman
standouts Ochoa and Natalie Gulbis check in at Nos. 1
and 3 in the
Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings. Baena ranks seventh
according to the magazine's
poll.
Injury Update: Sophomore Julia Kraschinski is
still out of action due to
serious disc problems in her back. If her condition
improves, Kraschinski
may return for the spring season. Kraschinski capped
off her freshman
season with a second place finish at the NCAA
Championships, finishing just
three strokes behind individual National Champion and
teammate Jenna
Daniels. Kraschinski competed in all 11 of the
Wildcats' tournaments as a
freshman and had a stroke average of 74.88.
2000 National Champions: The Wildcats
topped off a dominant season in which
they won nine tournaments by a combined total of 73
shots by capturing the
2000 National Championship in May. The title is the
school's second in the
last five years. Arizona turned in one of the most
dominating performances
in the 19-year history of the national championship
tournament.
Second-place Stanford finished trailing Arizona by 21
strokes, the
third-largest margin in NCAA Championship history.
Three Wildcat golfers
finished in the top 10 at the championships, held at
Crosswater Course in
Sunriver, Ore. Alumna Jenna Daniels took the
individual title with a
one-under par 287, sophomore Julia Kraschinski
finished in second, and
junior Cristina Baena tied for tenth.
Wildcat Coaching Staff: Coach Greg Allen, who
was hired in late July, comes
to the University of Arizona from Texas where he was
the assistant coach
for the Longhorns' men's golf team. Allen helped guide
Texas to the
1999-2000 NCAA Central Region championship and a
fifth-place finish at the
NCAA Championships. Allen graduated from Murray
State University in 1993.
Coach Allen is assisted by Amy Solfisburg who is in her
eighth year with
the Wildcat women's golf program. Solfisburg attended
the University of
Arizona and is a native of Michigan.
Reloading, not rebuilding: Arizona loses three
letterwinners from last
year's national championship team, including
1999-2000 seniors Jenna
Daniels and Jill Gomric. But more significant is who
returns for the Cats.
Junior Cristina Baena, sophomore Julia Kraschinski,
and senior Christina
Monteiro are back, all three played in each of the
Wildcats' 11 tournaments
last year. Together, the three averaged 74.66 in
1999-2000. Factor in
freshmen Lorena Ochoa, Nancy Abiecunas, and
Natalie Gulbis and the return
of redshirt sophomore Laura Myerscough and Arizona
appears poised for
another title run. Ochoa qualified in the No. 1 spot for
the Wildcats
heading into the year's first tournament, the NCAA
Preview. She reached
the semifinals of the 1999 U.S. Women's Amateur and
the quarterfinals of
the 2000 U.S. Women's Amateur. Abiecunas comes to
Tucson after a high
school career that saw her win five American Junior
Golf Association
tournament titles and be named First Team
All-American in 1999. Gulbis won
the U.S. High School Championship in 1999 by 21
shots. Myerscough comes
off a summer that saw her advance to the finals of this
year's U.S. Women's
Amateur. Baena was named to the All-Pac-10 First
Team, as well as earning
an honorable mention on the All-Academic Pac-10
team. Monteiro and
Kraschinski were both selected to All-Pac-10 honorable
mention team.
The Lineup:
Golfer Yr. Notes
Lorena Ochoa Fr. 71.75 stroke avg., ranked No. 1
by Golfweek magazine and
No. 3 by the College Golf Foundation
Natalie Gulbis Fr. 72.33 stroke avg., ranked No. 3 by
Golfweek magazine,
shot a 67 in her first round of collegiate competition
Cristina Baena Jr. 73.37 stroke avg., the nation's
top-ranked golfer in the
MasterCard Collegiate Golf Rankings, three top 10
finishes
Christina Monteiro Sr. 76.87 stroke avg., shot low
round of the year (70)
on day two of the NCAA Fall Preview
Christelle Cuzon Sr. 76.66 stroke avg., tied for
27th place at Comcast/Dick
McGuire Invitational
