Women's Golf Ready For Challenge At NCAA Regionals
May 7, 2002 | Women's Golf
May 7, 2002
NEW ORLEANS, La. - When the 12th-seeded Tulane University women's golf team hits the links for the NCAA East Regional in Baton Rouge, La. beginning on Thursday, May 9, the Green Wave squad will be doing two things - reaping the reward for a hard-fought, well played season and trying to make the NCAA National Championship for the first time in school history.
Coming off one of the best seasons in team history, the Green Wave will have an uphill climb in order to advance to Nationals as the East Regional features four teams ranked in the Top 10, including No. 1 Auburn and No. 2 Duke.
"We're excited to be going to the NCAA again," head coach Sue Bower said. "It'll be a tough, but we feel up to the challenge. If you look at the overall rankings, we have the toughest region. However, with the extreme heat expected this week and our knowledge of the University Club, I believe that can be an equalizer.
"We're coming off the best season in the history of our program, so we should be going into the tournament with great confidence. We just need to concentrate, play within ourselves and hopefully we can be the first Tulane team to advance to nationals."
The Green Wave enter the Regionals ranked 31st in the latest poll by GolfStat.com and are coming off a second-place finish at the Conference USA tournament when Tulane fired a team 889 (291-299-299). Tulane won one tournament during the 2001-02 season, claiming the Green Wave Women's Golf Classic championship with a 14-over par 601, and finished in the top four on five occasions.
Sophomore Carolin Landmann paces the Green Wave squad with a 75.82 stroke average, including a pair of tournament wins that helped her earn first-team All-Conference USA honors. She was joined on the league's first team by teammate Kathy Schafer, a junior, who averages 76.96 strokes per 18.
Rookie Alexis Wooster, who earned C-USA Freshman of the Year, second-team all-conference and all-freshman honors, is next on the club with a 77.39 average, followed by fellow freshman Lindsay Hulwick (78.50) and senior captain Marcela Gonzalez (78.57).
As a team, Tulane is averaging 305.5 strokes per round, including a season-best 291 in the first round of the C-USA Championship last week at Hattiesburg Country Club.
The top eight finishers from each Regional advance to the National Tournament which will be held at Washington National Golf Course in Auburn, Wash. In their only previous trip to the NCAA's, the Green Wave finished 24th at the East Regional in Columbus, Ohio.
