April 16, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State women's golf team returns to action next week, heading to Somis, Calif., for the 2004 Pac-10 Conference Championships. UCLA will play host to the tournament Monday-Wednesday, April 19-21 at the par 72, 6,405-yard Saticoy Country Club. With four top 10 finishes this season and three true freshmen in the lineup, the Sun Devils will be looking to capture their first Pac-10 title since 1996 and their 10th league crown overall.
Live scoring for the 2004 Pac-10 Championships will be available for each round at www.golfstat.com, while a recap will also be available at the conclusion of each round on ASU's official web site at www.thesundevils.com.
ASU'S LINEUP: ASU's lineup will feature junior Erin Tone (Gilbert, Ariz.), sophomore Alissa Kuczka (Phoenix, Ariz.), freshman Tiffany Tavee (Gilbert, Ariz.), freshman Charmaine Erasmus (Bradenton, Fla.) and freshman Lindsay Anderson (El Paso, Texas). Redshirt freshman Danelle Perata (Vacaville, Calif.) will play in the tournament as an individual.
ABOUT THE PAC-10 CHAMPIONSHIPS: Eighteen holes will be played each day with tee times beginning at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. First-round team pairings are based on seeding, while second- and third-round pairings are based on team total and individual total within the team. The top four scores from each five-person team will count toward the team score.
Arizona State will play with Oregon on Monday with tee times starting at 9:30 a.m. Pacific (10:30 a.m. Mountain).
PAC-10 HISTORY: Last year, California captured its first Pac-10 title (892), turning in a five-stroke victory over second-place Arizona (897). Arizona State finished fifth with a three-day total of 915 at the tournament, which was held at the Trysting Tree Country Club in Corvallis, Ore. Honorable-mention All-Pac-10 selection Blair O'Neal was the top finisher for the Sun Devils with a fourth-place showing at four-over 216. Returning Sun Devils include Alissa Kuczka who tied for 36th (76-80-80=236) and Erin Tone who tied for 45th (85-77-79=241).
Six different schools have won Pac-10 titles in the 17-year existence of the league. Arizona State leads the way with six Pac-10 team crowns, most recently with four straight from 1993-96, while Arizona has held a lock on the Pac-10 in recent years, winning five of the last seven team titles. Jimin Kang is the last Sun Devil to win an individual Pac-10 title, besting Lorena Ochoa, the top-ranked player in the nation at the time, by one stroke in 2002. A total of seven Sun Devils have won nine Pac-10 individual titles, including two-time conference medalist Wendy Ward.
THE FIELD: Seven of the 10 Pac-10 schools are ranked in the top 35 in the April 12 Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. UCLA is the highest ranked team at No. 2 followed by No. 4 California, No. 9 USC, No. 11 Arizona, No. 13 Washington, No. 23 Stanford and No. 31 Arizona State.
UP NEXT: Following the Pac-10 Championships, Arizona State will await selection to one of the three NCAA Regionals (East, West and Central). A total of 63 teams will qualify for regionals with the top eight teams in each region advancing to the NCAA Championships. Stanford University will play host the West Regional at the Stanford Golf Course, Illinois State will host the Central Regional at the University Golf Course in Normal, Ill., and Stetson University and the Central Florida Sports Commission will host the East Regional at the Mission Inn Golf and Tennis Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.
Auburn University will host the 2004 NCAA Championships May 18-21 at the Grand National Lake Course in Opelika, Ala.