The Oregon women’s golf team improved considerably over Tuesday’s opening round.
Problem was, the rest of the field followed suit, leaving them in eighth place for the second straight day at the 2004 Pacific-10 Championships held at the par-72, 6,405-yard Saticoy Country Club course in Somis, Calif.
The good news is that Oregon still has a chance to make a final round push to finish in the upper half of the conference. The Ducks sit 10 strokes behind fifth-place Washington and fourteen strokes behind third-place finishers California and Arizona.
Five of the six Ducks saw marked improvement Tuesday. Sophomore Therese Wenslow made the biggest move of the day, recovering from an opening round 89 by shooting a 3-over 75. Wenslow’s 75 included birdies on three of the last four holes, matching teammate Kimberly McCready for the best round of the day by a Duck.
McCready continued her impressive conference championship debut by opening her second round with a birdie on the 10th hole before carding three bogeys on her first nine. The freshman then recorded eight straight pars but finished with a disappointing bogey on the 9th, her final hole of the day.
McCready’s 75 moved her into a tie for 10th. She is now in position to challenge the best-ever finish by an Oregon rookie at the conference tournament, a distinction currently held by Oregon head coach Shannon Rouillard who tied for 13th in 1992 in Tempe, Ariz.
“Kim (McCready) just kept rolling in pars, which is a very good score on this course,” Rouillard said. “Therese (Wenslow) showed some real character out there not only by coming back strong after yesterday’s round, but also by birdieing three of her last four holes when she could have just given up.”
Sophomore Michelle Timpani also made a big move Tuesday with her second-round 79. Timpani moved into a tie for 27th with teammate Johnna Nealy. Junior Jess Carlyon, playing as an individual, finished 53rd after shooting a second-round 85. Sophomore Erin Andrews fired an 80 to finish in a tie for 38th. Junior Johnna Nealy was the only player to move down the leaderboard. Nealy was tied for 12th after the first day, but an 82 in the second round dropped her into a tie for 27th.
“I was very proud of the way the team came back after a difficult first round,” Rouillard said. “There was definite improvement today for just about everyone.”
Tournament leader UCLA tightened its grip on first place with a second-round 297.
The final round of the Pacific-10 Championship tees off today at 8:30 am.