April 28, 2008

IRVING, Texas - Tulsa, the 2008 Conference USA Women's Golf Champion, along with East Carolina and UCF have been selected to compete in the 2008 NCAA Regionals, which will be held May 8-10. Three regional tournaments will be conducted on those days to determine the championships field. Regional tournaments are considered preliminary rounds of NCAA championships competition, and all national championships policies will apply.

For winning the conference title, the Golden Hurricane received the automatic bid and will play in the West Regional May 8-10 at the Lincoln Hills Golf Club in Lincoln, California. TU will face 20 other schools in the regional, including eight teams ranked among the top-25 in the nation. No. 3 ranked Southern California headlines the field, followed by #4 Arizona State, #7 Arkansas, #12 Arizona, #14 Oklahoma State, #17 California, #21 Michigan State and #23 Stanford.

Since the regional format was adopted in 1993, Tulsa has made all but two regional tournament appearances. The Hurricane has won one regional title, with that coming in 2001 in the Central Region.

East Carolina is one of 21 teams headed to the East Regional. The Lady Pirates (115-26-1) earned an at-large bid and was chosen as the No. 13 seed in the East Regional, which will be held at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga.

ECU, in just its eighth year of existence, will make their fourth appearance in the NCAA Championships. During the 2002-03 season, ECU garnered a No. 12 seed in the East Regional in Winston-Salem, N.C. finishing tied for 14th. The Pirates were a 15 seed during the 2004-05 season in Gainesville, Fla. finishing in 17th. Former Pirate Adrienne Millican participated in the NCAA Championships as an individual in 2004 placing in a tie for 34th out of 126 golfers.

UCF also earned a berth to participate in the East Regional in Athens, Ga. The Knights played one of the hardest schedules in collegiate golf during the season and the players were rewarded for their efforts with the at-large bid to regional play. This will be the first appearance in regional play for the Knights since the 2002 campaign when UCF placed ninth at the South Regional in Baton Rouge, La.

This will be the second stop for the Knights this spring at the University of Georgia Golf Course as the team competed in the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, March 21-23.

A total of 324 participants have been selected for regional competition. Of these players, 126 will advance to the championships finals. Eight teams and two individuals will advance from each regional.

The championships finals will be held at the University of New Mexico Championship Course, Albuquerque, New Mexico and hosted by the University of New Mexico.