May 11, 2002
PALO ALTO, Calif. - The Arizona State women's golf team turned in its best round of the weekend Saturday to finish in a tie for sixth place and advance to the NCAA Championships at the NCAA West Regional, held May 9-11 at the par 72, 6,199-yard Stanford Golf Course.
The Sun Devils carded a four-over par 292 Saturday afternoon, their fifth-best round of the season, to tie for sixth with Washington with a three-round total of 904. With its sixth-place finish, Arizona State advances to its 11th consecutive NCAA Championships. This year's national tournament will be held May 21-24 at the Washington National Golf Course in Auburn, Wash.
UCLA and Pepperdine tied for first at the NCAA West Regional with three-round totals of 883, while California (889), Arizona (890), Stanford (901), ASU (904), Washington (904) and USC (908) round out the eight teams advancing on to the NCAA Championships.
A total of 21 teams and six individuals will compete at the 2002 NCAA Championships, including eight teams and two individuals which qualified this weekend from each the NCAA Central Regional held in East Lansing, Mich., and NCAA East Regional held in Baton Rouge, La.
Sophomore Jimin Kang led the Sun Devils individually, finishing in fourth place at even-par 216 (73-71-72). It marked the fifth top-five finish of the year and the third straight for Kang who won the Pac-10 Championships in her previous tournament.
The four other Sun Devil players each turned in their best rounds of the tournament on Saturday to help ASU qualify for the NCAA Championships. Junior Blair O'Neal shot a two-over 74 Saturday to tie for 29th place at 227 (78-75-74), while fellow junior Ga?lle Truet tied for 37th at 229 (76-78-75). Freshman Erin Tone (81-80-73=234) and junior Melanie Hunt (83-83-73=239) each tied their season-low rounds with one-over 73s on Saturday to finish tied for 50th and 71st, respectively.
Arizona's Lorena Ochoa, the top-ranked player in the country, finished at six-under 210 (70-70-70) to win her eighth tournament of the year.
NCAA West Regional - Final Results May 9-11, 2002 - Stanford Golf Course - Stanford, Calif.T1. Pepperdine 289-303-291=883 UCLA 296-299-288=883 3. California 297-298-294=889 4. Arizona 299-300-291=890 5. Stanford 303-304-294=901 T6. Arizona State 308-304-292=904 Washington 310-303-291=904 8. USC 309-307-292=908 9. San Francisco 315-304-295=914 10. New Mexico 302-307-306=915 T11. San Jose State 319-299-303=921 New Mexico State 311-310-300=921 13. Washington State 317-320-296=933 14. Colorado State 315-312-313=940 15. Idaho 314-318-309=941 16. BYU 326-318-300=944 17. UC Irvine 326-311-313=950 18. Northern Arizona 323-320-310=953 19. Denver 324-330-310=963 20. Campbell 319-322-316=967 21. Oral Roberts 335-324-322=981