May 10, 2008

LINCOLN, Calif. - After a two-year absence from the NCAA Championship, the Tulsa women golfers qualified for the national finals on Saturday with a seventh-place finish at the NCAA West Regional. The Golden Hurricane carded a final round one-over par 289 and finished the 54-hole tournament with a score of 884 for seventh-place in the 21-team field.

The top-8 teams advancing to the NCAA Championship from the West Regional. Includes Southern Cal, Arizona State, UNLV, Arizona, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Michigan State and Tulsa. The nation's second-ranked USC Trojans led from start to finish, and turned in a final round 284 for a nine-under par 855 total. Finishing 15 strokes back was Arizona State with an 870 total, followed by UNLV (879), Arizona (880), Oklahoma State and Arkansas (882), Tulsa (884). UC Davis, Ohio State and Stanford had to go to a team playoff to decide eighth-place.

Tulsa will be making the school's 27th national championship finals appearance, May 20-24, at the University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course in Albuquerque, N.M. The first of four national titles that the Tulsa women `s golf program has won - 1980 AIAW National Championship - was played on the University Course at New Mexico.

Tulsa was spectacular on the front nine today, but struggled on the toughest stretch of the course between holes 12 and 17. On the front nine, the Hurricane shot eight-under par, led by senior Michaela Cavener's four-under par score and junior Woori Shin's three-under par. Freshman Kelly Fuchik was one-under pr after the first nine holes, while seniors Tara Goedeken and Leisl Hasbrouck each turned in even-par score on the front nine.

"We got off to a great start. We regrouped last night after a bad round. The girls new they played bad, and they knew that they needed to be tough like we've been all spring," said Tulsa Head Coach Randy Keck. "They came to the course ready to play today."

"After our practice round on Wednesday, we knew that holes 12-17 would be the toughest stretch of holes. Thankfully, we played the easy holes 9-10 under par in the first round and today had 11 birdies and played it five-under par as a team," said Keck. "We have to be tougher and finish better."

Cavener and Shin had Tulsa's best rounds of the day with one-under par scores of 71. Cavener finished the tournament in 17th place with a four-over par score of 220. Cavener posted her four-under par score on the front nine with birdie putts on holes 1, 4, 8 and 9, and finished the backside with three bogey's while sinking a birdie putt on the par 3 16th hole to close out the tournament.

After the first 12 holes, Shin was five-under par with birdie putts on holes 1, 2, 4, 10 and 12, but went four-over par on the final six holes. She doubled-bogeyed the par 4 13th hole and finished her round with bogey-bogey on the final two holes.

Hasbrouck saved her best round for last with an even-par 72 today on five birdies, three bogeys and one double bogey. Goedeken and Fuchik turned in rounds of three-over par 75 on Saturday.

Behind Cavener's 17th place performance, fellow seniors Goedeken and Hasbrouck finished in a tie for 35th place with a 223 score, respectively. Fuchik placed 42nd with a 224 total, while Shin was one stroke back in 44th place with a 225 score.

Individually, UNLV's Theresa Koelbaek and Arizona's Alison Walshe tied for medalist honors with identical scores of six-under par 210. Walshe carded a three-under par 69 today, while Koelbaek shot one-over par 73.

"When we started the year we had three goals. One was win the conference championship, the second to qualify for national tournament and our third goal was to finish in the top five at the national tournament. When we told people that, they laughed at us. We just need to continue to prove them wrong and go out and do it. The first two goals have been accomplished, now we have to go after the third. We showed some toughness today, and I feel we have a chance to play well at the national tournament," said Keck.

Twenty-four teams will compete for the NCAA Championship as eight teams from three regional sites - East, Central and West - advanced today to Albuquerque. The East Regional teams advancing included Florida, Duke, Georgia, Auburn, Virginia, South Carolina, Wake Forest and Furman, while the Central Region sends UCLA, Purdue, Denver, TCU, Texas A&M, Alabama, Texas, and LSU.

East Carolina and UCF also competed in the East Regional, finishing 12th and 17th, respectively.