Thirty mile-per-hour winds, 15 top-25 teams, and still the Oregon women’s golf team managed to finish in a tie for 10th place after the first round of the NCAA West Regionals in Tempe, Ariz., Thursday.
Oregon seniors Angie Rizzo and Anika Heuser both shot three-over par 75s to help the No. 26 Ducks finish the first round with a one-spot cushion in their bid for the NCAA Championships. Oregon needs to finish 11th or better to make that cut.
“We took a step in the right direction,” Oregon head coach Renee Baumgartner said. “We have to play solid the next two days.”
The Ducks used consistent play to finish the round in the top 10. Only three strokes separate the five team members, with Rizzo and Heuser tied for 22nd.
Besides Rizzo and Heuser, senior co-captain Kylie Wilson shot a four-over par 76, junior Jerilyn White shot a 77 and senior co-captain Pam Sowden turned in the team’s highest score, a six-over par 78.
Like the Pacific-10 Conference Championships at the Eugene Country Club two weeks ago, the wind was a factor at the Karsten Golf Course in Tempe. The winds got up to 30 miles per hour leading to high scores from all the teams at the regionals.
Baumgartner said the wind won’t affect her team’s play over the tournament’s final 36 holes.
“Our game plan is to aim for the middle of the greens and don’t get too fancy with it,” Baumgartner said.
The coach believes her team’s morning tee time today should help, as the wind will probably be more tame than the afternoon. The Ducks tee off at 7:30 a.m.
The surprise of the tournament is the leader, 17th-ranked Tulsa. Of all the women’s golf heavyweights at the tournament, the west regionals are being led after the first round by a team that has won only two tournaments this year, one of which was the Western Athletic Conference Championships. Tulsa’s Stacy Prammanasudh and Maiko Senda lead the individual race with 2-under-par 70s.
No. 1 Arizona is a mere two strokes behind the Golden Hurricane in second place. No. 7 Stanford holds down third, while No. 15 Texas and No. 27 Nebraska are tied for fourth. The Ducks are knotted with No. 11 San Jose State in 10th. The wind, however, may have had a hand in evening out the scores because the top-10 teams are separated by only nine strokes.
Almost as surprising as Tulsa’s lead is the poor play of the top-10 teams at the tournament. No. 4 Arizona State (6th), No. 6 Pepperdine (9th) and No. 10 New Mexico State (7th) are doing well, but No. 3 Southern California (16th), No. 9 Oklahoma State (T14th) and No. 14 UCLA (T14th) all would miss going to the NCAA Championships if the tournament had ended after the first round.
USC may be in the biggest trouble of all the ranked teams. Still reeling from a disqualification at the Pac-10 Championships that dropped the team from second to fifth, the third-ranked Trojans are five strokes out of 11th place.
Some of the country’s top individuals are struggling at the regionals. Top-ranked Jenna Daniels of Arizona is in 13th while No. 3 Candie Kung of USC holds down 22nd.
The Ducks will play two more 18-hole rounds at the NCAA West Regionals, and the tournament will conclude Saturday.