The Oregon women’s golf team will begin the 2009 Pacific-10 Conference Championship tournament today in Stanford, Calif. The event is at the par 71, 6,120-yard Stanford Golf Course.
Senior Cathryn Bristow, a 2008 Second Team All-Pac-10 selection, has played the event three other times with her career-best finish coming her sophomore year, as she placed 27th. She and sophomore Kendra Little will lead the way for the No. 35 Ducks.
Last spring, junior Kate Hildahl led the way for Oregon at the Pac-10 Tournament, finishing in 16th place. Little followed closely behind in 20th, while junior Felicia Eastick and Bristow finished in 35th and 38th, respectively. Senior Blair Ressler rounded out last year’s Oregon finishers with her 47th-place finish.
Oregon’s lone freshman, Ashley Edwards, will look to have an immediate impact in her tournament debut.
“First off, I am very excited for it,” Edwards said. “I believe the Pac-10 is the best (conference) in the nation and I want to prove myself to a lot of people.”
The Pac-10 is undoubtedly the strongest conference in the country, with the nation’s three top-ranked teams in No. 1 Arizona State, No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 USC. Other teams ranked in the top 40 also include No. 22 Arizona, No. 23 Stanford, No. 25 California and Oregon at No. 35.
Individually, the Pac-10 is equally impressive as it features five of the nation’s top-10 golfers: No. 1 Lizette Salas of USC, No. 2 Azahara Munoz of Arizona State, No. 4 Jennifer Song also of USC, No. 5 Stephanie Kono of UCLA, and No. 6 Carlota Ciganda also of Arizona State.
Little is the only Oregon golfer ranked in the top 100, at No. 92. She has led the Ducks in scoring in five of their nine tournaments, while Bristow led in three and Monika Graf led in one.
The balanced Oregon squad is fairly familiar with the Stanford Golf Course, as they participated in the Stanford Pepsi Intercollegiate back in October. The Ducks shot 921 for the three-day event, and finished in second place behind Stanford by 16 strokes.
But Edwards does not necessarily believe their familiarity with the course will be an extraordinary advantage. “The teams that we need to beat are from that area,” Edwards said. “However, we can’t think like that, we just have to go out there and play our game.”
Interim head coach Meredith Jones, a former Arizona State and Baylor University golfer, played in several conference championship tournaments during her collegiate career, but admits to looking at things a bit differently as a coach.
“It’s definitely different being on the coaching side of things,” Jones said. “I’ve tried to keep us focused on the basics, and really just keep it simple.”
Jones was a three-time All-Big 12 selection, finishing in the top 15 of the conference tournament each year. She also participated in the Pac-10 Tournament during her freshman season at Arizona State. But the conference has grown dramatically since then.
“Obviously it’s tough competition with three of the top-five teams in the nation,” said Jones. “We just look to play up to that level.”
But Jones feels it is reasonable for the Ducks to aim for a fifth-place finish. Jones also said she expects continued strong play from Bristow and Little, as well as her younger players.
“Ashley is a fierce competitor,” Jones said. “She and Monika will both be ready to go. I think everyone is just really excited to get going. Having these two weeks to practice has really refocused us.”
Men’s golf kicks off Pac-10s Monday
The Oregon men’s golf team is coming off of a strong 10th-place finish at the U.S. Intercollegiate last weekend, and will begin its Pacific-10 Conference Championship tournament on Monday at the Seattle Golf Course in Seattle.
The young team has recently rallied behind the play of freshman Andrew Vijarro, and will look to do more of the same throughout the next several days against the harsh Pac-10 competition.
The Pac-10 features five teams in the top-20 nationally with No. 3 USC, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 Washington, No. 16 Arizona State and No. 17 UCLA, while Oregon falls in at No. 46.
Oregon struggled at the Pac-10 Tournament last year, finishing in ninth place, but went on to place second in the NCAA West Regional tournament a few weeks later.
Sophomore Isaiah Telles returns after his exceptionally strong post-season play as a freshman last year. Telles finished in 27th in the Pac-10s in 2008, and later went on to play his best golf of the year at the Regional tournament, where he tied for 11th place.
While they may be young, the Ducks will still look to be in the thick of things when they tee off with Arizona and Stanford at 7:30 a.m. on Monday.
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Women return to Stanford Golf Course for Pac-10 Tourney
Daily Emerald
April 23, 2009
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