May 1, 2006
TEMPE, Ariz. - The No. 3 Arizona State women's golf team has earned the top seed in the NCAA East Regional Championship, which will be held May 11-13 at the Bryan Park Golf Course (par 72, 6,386 yards) in Bryan Park, N.C. The Regional will be hosted by Wake Forest University.
Twenty-one teams and three individuals have qualified for each of the three regional championships with the University of Washington playing host to the West Regional at the Washington National Golf Club in Las Auburn, Wash., and Texas A&M hosting the Central Regional at The Traditions at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. In addition to ASU, the other top seeds are top-ranked Duke (Central Region) and No. 2 UCLA (West Region).
The top eight teams and two individuals from each regional will qualify for the 2006 NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships to be held May 23-26 at the Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio (Ohio State University will be the host school).
"We have not played the (Bryan Park) golf course before, but it is supposed to be a really good course," said ASU coach Melissa Luellen. "A lot of the teams that are playing in the east have played the course. We will have to be really focused in our practice rounds. It will be a little bit different grass and different greens, but as solid as our team is playing I'm not worried about our preparation. (Playing on a different course) will help us because we will have to be that much more focused."
Seven of the top 25 teams from the latest NGCA coaches poll will be in ASU's regional including No. 4 and SEC champion Auburn, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 11 Wake Forest, No. 14 California, No. 15 Vanderbilt, and No. 17 Virginia. Other conference champions in the Sun Devils' regional include Campbell (Atlantic Sun), College of Charleston (Southern), East Carolina (Conference USA) and Yale (Ivy). The Sun Devils, who recently finished second at the 2006 Pac-10 Championships, will be looking for their first regional championship since 1997.
Last year, ASU finished fourth at the NCAA Central Regional, held May 5-7 at the Jerry S. Rawls Golf Course in Lubbock, Texas. With their fourth-place finish, the Sun Devils qualified for their 14th straight trip to the NCAA Championships. Individually speaking, former ASU golfer Louise Stahle was ASU's top finisher at last year's NCAA Central Regional with a second-place finish (+3). Also finishing in the top five was current Sun Devil Alissa Kuczka, who finished tied for fourth place (+6).