USC MAINTAINS LEAD AT NCAA REGIONAL; NUMEROUS TEAMS FIGHTING FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS BERTH
5/10/2008
LINCOLN, Calif. — Top seeded USC shot even-par during the second round of the NCAA Div. I Women’s Golf West Regional and maintained its lead heading into the final round of the 54-hole tournament, Friday at Lincoln Hills Golf Club.
The Trojans have shot 283-288-571 in the opening two rounds and hold a seven stroke lead over UNLV. The Rebels head into the final round at 2-over 578 and are followed by Arizona State (581) in the top three.
The biggest drama in the final day will come farther down the standings where a handful of teams are jockeying for a position in the top eight which earns a berth into the NCAA Championships. Through 36 holes, Oklahoma State (586), Arkansas (586), Arizona (588), Stanford (593) and Tulsa (595) currently hold down the remainder of the spots. However, six teams are within five strokes of eighth place and nine are nine strokes back or less.
Northern California’s Cal and UC Davis are just one stroke back of Tulsa after each combining for a total of 596 in the two rounds.
Individually, UNLV’s Therese Koelbaek established a three-stroke lead with rounds of 69-68-137. Azahara Munoz of Arizona State is second at 69-71-140 and three players — Dewi Claire Schreefel (USC), Jaclyn Sweeney (Oklahom State), Alison Walshe (Arizona) — each have tallied 141.
Friday’s round proved tougher than the opening as the scoring average raised to 76.01 with nine players shooting 71 or better.
The final round of the tournament gets under way at 8:10 a.m. on Saturday morning. The top three teams in the standings will tee off on the 1st hole at that time while the next three teams in the standings get under way at 8:40 a.m. from the 12th tee.
Along with the eight teams which move on to the national championships, the top two individual scores from non-advancing teams will also receive berths.
TEAM SCORES
1. Southern California 283-288-571
2. UNLV 288-290-578
3. Arizona State 296-285-581
4. Oklahoma State 293-293-586
T5. Arkansas 291-297-588
T5. Arizona 299 –289-588
7. Stanford 295-298-593
8. Tulsa 287-308-595
T9. UC Davis 300-296-596
T9. California 295-301-596
11. Ohio State 299-298-597
12. Brigham Young 295-303-598
13. Michigan State 295-304-599
14. Oregon 303-297-600
T15. San Jose State 300-302-602
T15. Oklahoma 299-303-602
17. UC Irvine 302-301-603
18. North Carolina 297-311-608
19. Fresno State 306-306-612
20. Portland State 308-308-616
21. Oral Roberts 310-312-622
TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS
1. Therese Koelbaek, UNLV, 69-68-137
2. Azahara Munoz, ASU, 69-71-140
T3. Dewi Claire Schreefel, USC, 71-70-141
T3. Jaclyn Sweeney, OKST, 69-72-141
T3. Alison Walshe, ARIZ, 68-73-141
