March 31, 2006
Day One Results (PDF)
Day Two Tee Times (PDF)
TEMPE, Ariz. - The No. 3 Arizona State women's golf team is currently in first place after the first round of the 2006 PING/ASU Invitational being played at Karsten Golf Course in Tempe. The Sun Devils had three players shoot even par or better to finish with a team score of 283 (-5) for the day.
Coming in second place was No. 2 UCLA which shot an even-par 288. No. 10 UNLV was in third place with a 290 (+2) followed by No. 5 Pepperdine in fourth place (292, +4) and Tulsa in fifth place (293, +5). Rounding out the top 10 of the 16-team tournament were No. 17 Texas A&M (294, +6), No. 6 USC (295, +7), No. 19 Stanford (299, +11), Washington (300, +12) and Texas (305, +17).
Leading the way for the Sun Devils was junior Tiffany Tavee who shot a career-low round of 66 (-6) to finish the day in first place. For Tavee, it marked the third time in her last six rounds of golf that she has shot in the 60s.
"I was thrilled with Tiffany's round today," said ASU women's golf coach Melissa Luellen. "From a mental standpoint she was in a really great place. It seemed like nothing bothered her out there."
Tying for 10th place with an even par score of 72 were senior Alissa Kuczka and freshman Jennifer Osborn. Also figuring in ASU's team score was freshman Azahara Munoz, who finished in 21st place with a 73 (+1).
"It was a really good way to start the first day," said Luellen. "There's an old cliché that you can't win the tournament on the first day, but you can certainly lose it. Our theme this week was not to take anything for granted. There is still a long way to go."
Other Sun Devil finishers included junior Charmaine Erasmus, who finished the day tied for 21st (73, +1), sophomore Brooke Todare, who finished tied for 41st place (76, +4); junior Danielle Perata, who finished tied for 78th place (81, +9) and junior Lindsay Anderson, who finished tied for 86th place (83, +11).
The Sun Devils are the defending champions of the PING/ASU Invitational. Friday's first round ended like last year's tournament ended - with ASU in first place and UCLA in second. Luellen said she expects it to be a tough competition the next couple days with the defending Pac-10 champion Bruins expected to make run at the PING/ASU title along with the 14 other teams in the tournament.
"UCLA is a really solid team and they want to win just like to we want to," said Luellen. "The wish is that every one plays well and it is a battle to the end."
The second round of the ASU/PING Invitational kicks off at 8 a.m. on Saturday. Admission is free to the public.