May 25, 2007
Daytona Beach, Fla. - The No. 1 Arizona State women's golf team finished in 13th place at the 2007 NCAA National Championships in Daytona Beach, Fla. ASU shot a 69-over 1221 (307-298-311-305) for the four-round tournament. Prior to the NCAA National Championships, ASU had not finished lower than sixth place the entire season.
"It seemed like the fun left this week, because we've had so much fun this year," said ASU head coach Melissa Luellen. "We've contended in every tournament. We've been in the hunt every tournament. This is the first time we haven't been in the hunt. There is no reason we shouldn't have played well. No ones game was crazy bad. We didn't make very many putts. We didn't particularly putt well on these greens."
Freshman Anna Nordqvist led the Sun Devils through out the entire tournament. Nordqvist finished tied for 17th at 11-over 299 (75-70-77-77). Sophomore All-American Jennifer Osborn shot a four-round total of 18-over 306 (78-74-80-74) to tie for 50th. Freshman Juliana Murcia finished in a tie for 57th after shooting a 19-over 307 (76-78-77-76). Sophomore All-American Azahara Munoz tied for 65th after shooting a 21-over 309 (78-76-77-78).
Senior Lindsay Anderson finished the last tournament of her collegiate career tied for 121st after shooting a four-round total of 43-over 331 (83-84-80-84). Anderson was an integral member of the golf team, competing in seven tournaments on the year. She tied her career-low round of 71 this year at the 2007 PING/ASU Invitational and finished the tournament tied for 25th. Anderson is also a two-time Pac-10 All-Academic honorable mention.
"We have a very young squad," said Luellen. "We are only losing one senior. She brought so much to our team in so many ways. We'll have a new fifth player in there next year. We'll definitely take this and learn from this. We will do some things differently. This is a reevaluation time for all coaches. `What could you have done better?' `What could you have done differently?' We will take a lot of things and change them."
Duke finished in first place, winning their third national championship in a row. The Blue Devils shot an 18-over 1170. Arkansas' Stacy Lewis, playing as an individual, shot 6-under 282 to win the individual title.