In what amounts to the final regular season competition for the Oregon women’s golf team, the Ducks will have one more look at familiar foes beginning today.
The real test of the season occurs from April 24 through 26 at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships.
In the meantime, Oregon heads south to participate in the 16-team Ping/Arizona State Invitational. Participants will complete 18 holes each day of the three-day regular season concluding the tournament at the par-72, 6,183-yard Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz.
The Ducks will feature five players, headlined by team-leading freshman Therese Wenslow, who currently holds a 76.9 season stroke average. Also heading south will be sophomore Johnna Nealy, with Oregon’s second leading average at 77.8, followed by freshmen Michelle Timpani with an 80.4 stroke average. Junior Lacy Erickson follows closely with an 80.6 average, and sophomore Jaime Seefried is at 83.2.
“We’re coming off a difficult tournament, but we’re more familiar with the course at Arizona State and I fully expect us to play better,” head coach Shannon Rouillard said. “Three of the five we have competing have experience on the Karsten course, and I really expect that we will play up to our capabilities this weekend.”
Oregon is coming off a surprising down week after finishing 17th overall in last week’s UCLA/Pioneer Electronics Classic in Santa Clarita, Calif. One week prior, Oregon collectively shot its best round of the season in the final round of the Oregon Duck Invitational.
The Ducks will get one final look at its conference competitors as No. 5 USC, No. 6 Arizona, No. 9 California, No. 16 UCLA, No. 17 Washington, Arizona State, Oregon State and Stanford are all expected to compete in Tempe. Three of the four top-10 teams in the tournament hail from the Pac-10.
After the conclusion of the tournament, Oregon takes three weeks off before heading to the Pac-10 Conference Championships, set to be held April 24-26 at Trysting Tree Golf Course in Corvallis.