May 8, 2008

Lincoln, California - The Tulsa women's golf team is one of 21 schools to begin play today at the NCAA West Regional at the par-72 Lincoln Hills Golf Club.

Tulsa tees off at 8:40 am Pacific time.

The Hurricane is led by senior Michaela Cavener and junior Woori Shin. Cavener has placed among the top-20 in nine of 10 tournaments and has six top-10 finishes this season. Shin, a transfer from Auburn and a former NJCAA national champion, captured medalist honors at the Conference USA Championships. Since arriving on campus in January, she has placed among the top-15 in five of six tournaments.

Seniors Leisl Hasbrouck and Tara Goedeken are coming off of solid performances at the C-USA Championships. Hasbrouck had a season-best second-place performance and then a week later qualified for the LPGA's SemGroup Championship held in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Goedeken placed 11th at the C-USA event and had seven top-20 performances this season.

Freshman Kelly Fuchik has turned in six top-15 finishes this year for Tulsa, including three straight spring events in the top-10.

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.

The top eight teams and two individuals will advance from the three regional tournaments (East, Central and West) to the NCAA Championship finals, which will be held May 20-24 at the University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course in Albuquerque, N.M.