Feb. 21, 2006
TUCSON, Ariz. - For the second time in as many weeks the No. 7 Arizona State women's golf team was victorious after shooting a three-round score of -12 (840) to capture the Wildcat Invitational in Tucson Ariz.
In a tournament that included 15 of the top 25 teams in the country - including eight of the top 10 - the Sun Devils had four golfers finish in the top 11 led by freshmen Jennifer Osborn (68, 68, 73) and Azahara Munoz (71, 68, 70), who both shot a -4 for the tournament to finish tied for third place. Vanderbilt's Jacqui Concolino took first place individually speaking after shooting nine-under 204.
The No. 1 Duke Blue Devils shot an 846 for the tournament to finish six strokes behind the Sun Devils. No. 19 California and No. 2 UCLA finished tied for third place after shooting a +7 (859) for the tournament. Coming in fifth place was No. 5 Auburn (+12, 864) followed by No. 12 UNLV (+13, 865), No. 6 Pepperdine (+17, 869), No. 18 Arizona (+22, 874), No. 9 USC (+23, 875) and No. 21 New Mexico (+78, 930).
"Our team played wonderful golf today," said Arizona State women's golf coach Melissa Luellen. "Duke played well today, but we were able to play better. It was really great to be able to beat the No. 1 team in the country and have four of our players finish in the top 11."
The Sun Devils and Blue Devils both completed their respective second rounds on Tuesday morning after play was suspended due to darkness on Monday. ASU began the third round eight-under, three strokes ahead of the Blue Devils. By the end of the day, ASU would double its lead after three of its players - Munoz (-1), senior Alissa Kuczka (-1), and junior Tiffany Tavee (-4) - shot under par in the third round.
Tavee's score of 67 in the third round enabled her to finish the tournament in seventh place, 15 spots higher than where she started the round (t-22nd). Kuczka's third round score of 70 also helped her move up the leader board going from tied for 16th at the start of the round to tied for 11th at the end of the day. Rounding out ASU's finishers was junior Charmaine Erasmus, who shot a 17-over 230 to finished tied for 65th place.
Three Sun Devils were also playing as individuals. Junior Lindsay Anderson shot 13-over 226 to tie for 55th; sophomore Brooke Todare tied for 67th after shooting an 18-over 231 and junior Danelle Perata shot a 30-over 231 to tie for 67th.
ASU's performance in Tucson comes on the heels of its first-place finish at last week's Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes, Calif. In that tournament, Osborn (second place) and Munoz (eighth place) both carded top-10 finishes as well.
"It has been a great couple weeks and now we are going to get a little bit of rest and get geared up for (the Cal Invitational in) Guadalajara, Mexico next week," said Luellen. "Right now we are just taking it one tournament at time, but we are thrilled where we are at right now."