Women's Golf at NCAA Regional This Week
Upcoming — The Oregon State women’s golf team was selected to participate in this week’s NCAA West Regional, hosted by the University of Washington in Auburn, Wash. The regional is a 54-hole tournament with one 18-hole round each day starting on Thursday and running through Saturday (May 11-13). The Beavers need to finish in the top eight to advance from the regionals to the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio on May 23-26.
The Course — The tournament will be played at Washington National Golf Club in Auburn, Wash., a par-72, 6,289-yard course.
The Field — Twenty-one teams will take part at the 2006 NCAA West Regional. In order of the seedings, they are: 1. UCLA, 2. Georgia, 3. Purdue, 4. Arkansas, 5. UNLV, 6. Arizona, 7. Stanford, 8. New Mexico, 9. Washington, 10. Long Beach State, 11. Brigham Young, 12. UC Irvine, 13. San Jose State, 14. Denver, 15. Oregon State, 16. Washington State, 17. New Mexico State, 18. Georgia State, 19. Oral Roberts, 20. Bradley, and 21. Montana.
OSU Lineup — , , , , .
NCAA Regional History — OSU played in the NCAA Regionals nine times in a 10-year period before missing out on postseason play the past two years. The Beavers’ best finish was in 1998 and 2001, where they finished 10th both times. The Beavers went on to qualify for the NCAA Championships in 1998. They finished 16th in their only appearance at the Championships. Senior is the only current player with NCAA postseason experience as she placed 56th at the 2003 West Regional as a freshman.
Last Tournament — The Beavers were in Tucson, Ariz., for the Pac-10 Women’s Golf Championships on March 24-26, where they finished eighth after shooting a three-round 879 (291/287/301). Senior finished 12th and set a school record with a 4-under-par 68 in the second round.
Coach Risë Lakowske Says — "We’re ready to go. They know what they have to do and what their capabilities are. We’re going to learn the golf course as best we can on Wednesday in the practice round. We’ve worked a lot on our short game, as usual. The greens at Trysting Tree are similar to what we’ll see up in Washington. This team putts well enough that the focus will be on just getting it to the middle of the greens instead of worrying about pin placements. Off the tee, if you can drive it with any accuracy at all, you can have an opportunity to score it as long as you’re hitting the center of the green. They need to just realize what their own individual game plan is for the golf course. They learned a lot about not putting pressure on themselves from Pac-10s. They don’t need to do anything different but play their own game and not worry about anything else. I think they can do it, I feel really good about it. They’re prepared."
OSU Coaches:
Risë Lakowske is in her 19th year as head coach of the Oregon State women’s golf program. She competed at OSU from 1973-77, playing in four AIAW National Championships, winning two collegiate events and several non-collegiate tournaments during her career. As OSU’s coach, she was named the 1998 Far West District Coach of the Year as she led the Beavers to the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history. Under Lakowske, this is the 10th time that the Beavers have played in the West Regional.
Assistant coach is currently in her third year with Oregon State. The former OSU All-American played in the NCAA Championships twice, and later played three years professionally on the Futures Tour after finishing her OSU career.
OSU Players:
Freshman (Alameda, Calif.) — 2005-06: 82.52 average/low 74/21 rounds — Best finish so far was a tie for 24th at the Oregon Duck Invitational ... Also shot a season-low 74 at the Duck Invitational ... Won numerous junior golf tournaments in Northern California ... Four-time all-league honors in high school and made all-state as a senior ... Won the San Francisco City Women’s Amateur at the age of 12.
Junior (Battle Ground, Wash.) — 2005-06: 77.03 average/low 70/31 rounds — Tied for 10th at the 2005 OSU Invitational ... Had OSU’s best score at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational (27th place) ... Shot a season-low 1-under 70 in the first round of the Stanford Pepsi Intercollegiate ... Tied for 12th at the Fresno State Invitational ... Tied for 14th at the Oregon Duck Invitational ... Had OSU’s best finish at the PING/ASU Invitational (tied for 21st) ... Tied for 30th at the Pac-10 Championships ... Averaged 78.26 strokes per round in 2004-05, second best on the team ... Shot a 3-under-par 69 at the 2004 Kent Youel Invitational, one of the best rounds in school history ... Was OSU’s top scorer twice in 2004-05 ... A 2005 NGCA All-American Scholar and a Pac-10 All-Academic honorable mention selection.
Sophomore (Bellingham, Wash.) — 2005-06: 79.13 average/low 69/31 rounds — Shot a first-round 69 at the 2005 OSU Invitational, tied for best single-round score in team history ... Tied for 12th at the Fresno State Invitational, her best finish of the season ... Tied for 40th at the Pac-10 Championships ... Averaged 80.38 strokes per round in 2004-05 as a freshman, and was OSU’s top scorer twice.
Freshman (Washougal, Wash.) — 2005-06: 80.36 average/low 75/14 rounds — Competed as an individual for her first three tournaments (OSU Invitational in the fall and two spring tournaments) ... Was in the lineup for the first time at the Peg Barnard Collegiate ... Placed 46th at the Pac-10 Championships ... Had three top-20 finishes at Washington 3A state tournament ... Two-time winner of the Olympia Junior Open ... Four-time Junior Golfer of the Year at Orchard Hills CC.
Junior (Hammaro, Sweden) — 2005-06: 83.40 average/low 74/15 rounds — Best finish so far this year was a tie for 23rd at the CU Heather Farr Memorial ... Missed the 2004-05 season due to injury ... Averaged 85.24 strokes per round as a 2003-04 sophomore.
Sophomore (Modesto, Calif.) — 2005-06: 76.71 average/low 69/31 rounds — Shot a school-record-tying 69 in the third round of the Stanford Pepsi Intercollegiate, helping her to OSU’s top finish (tied for 14th) ... Shot a 216 at Stanford, tied for the second-best tournament score in school history ... Top OSU scorer at the CU Heather Farr Memorial, taking a career-best sixth place overall ... Her 5-over-par 221 ties for seventh on OSU’s three-round totals ... Shot a then-career-low 1-under-par 71 in the third round of the CU Heather Farr Memorial ... Took 13th place, her second-best finish of the season, at the Oregon Duck Invitational ... Had OSU’s best finish (tied for 26th) at the Peg Barnard Collegiate ... Placed 32nd at the Pac-10 Championships ... Played in all 10 tournaments as a 2004-05 freshman, the only OSU player to do so ... Averaged 78.62 strokes per round, third best on the team, and was OSU’s top scorer twice last year.
Senior (Hilo, Hawaii) — 2005-06: 77.13 average/low 68/31 rounds — Set an OSU school record with a 4-under-par 68 in the second round of the 2006 Pac-10 Women’s Golf Championships ... Had four birdies and no bogies as she became the first OSU player ever to card a 68 ... Was OSU’s top finisher at the Pac-10s, placing 12th... Was OSU’s top scorer at the OSU Invitational, taking fifth place with a 5-over-par 221 (tied for the seventh-best tournament score in team history) ... Equaled her best finish of the year by taking fifth at the Oregon Duck Invitational with a 10-over 226 ... Led OSU in scoring average each of the last two years ... Missed a large part of 2004-05 due to illness ... Her average of 76.73 strokes per round in 2004-05 ranks fourth in school single-season history ... Entering this season, her three-year average of 78.19 strokes per round ranked sixth in school career history ... Was OSU’s top scorer in four of her five tournaments in 2004-05.
2005-06 Team Highlights — The 895 that the Beavers shot at their own OSU Invitational was the third-best team score in school history ... The 903 that OSU shot at the Stanford Pepsi Intercollegiate was the sixth-best team total in school history ... The 907 that OSU shot at the CU Heather Farr Memorial was the ninth-best team total in school history ... The 295 that the Beavers shot in the first round of the Stanford Pepsi Intercollegiate tied for the fifth-best single-round score in team history ... The 296 that the Beavers shot in the first round of their own OSU Invitational was tied for eighth as the best single-round score in team history.
