Women's Golf Prepares for NCAA Tourney

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Courtesy USF

USF WOMEN'S GOLF

USF Women’s Golf Prepares For NCAA East Regional

TAMPA, Fla. (May 9, 2007) – The University of South Florida women’s golf team will tee off at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, May 10, at the University Club Golf Course in Baton Rouge, La., to begin its quest at the 2007 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships East Regional.

Christina Jones, Gennifer Mendez, Kylene Pulley, Jessica Buchta and Daniella Ronderos will represent USF at the event.  

“We are really excited about being at the East Regional,” said Coach Kelly Lagedrost. “The ladies played great all season, so we are just going to keep trucking along and hopefully put together three good rounds.”  

A total of 21 five-member teams and three individuals will take part in the 54-hole event that runs May 10-12 at the home of the LSU Lady Tigers, all looking for a chance to advance to the 2007 Division I Women’s Golf Championships set for the LPGA course in Daytona Beach, Fla., May 22-25.

The last time the women’s USF team played in a regional event was the 2005 season, when the Bulls carded a 20th place 319 in the Central Regional. Individually, Christina Jones tied for 25th in the 2006 East Regional last season.  

“Since the ladies are done with school for the semester, their main focus has been on golf,” continued Lagedrost. “They have been working hard all week and if we can put together three good rounds, we could be looking at nationals.”  

The tournament begins on Thursday morning as the top 12 seeds will play in the morning wave, with seeds 13-21 competing in the afternoon. The sessions are reversed for Friday’s second round. USF tees off at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. Admission for all sessions of the NCAA Regional are free and live scoring for the event will be available at www.golfstat.com.

Regional tournaments are considered preliminary rounds of NCAA championships competition, and all national championships policies will apply. Three regional tournaments – East, Central and West – will be conducted May 10-12 to determine the championships field. A total of 324 participants have been selected for the regional competition. Of these players, 126 will advance to the championships finals.  

The field at the NCAA East Regional includes Duke, UCLA, Auburn, Purdue, Texas A&M, North Carolina, Alabama, Wake Forest, South Carolina, Virginia, Florida State, LSU, Louisville, USF, North Carolina State, Birmingham-Southern, Furman, College of Charleston, Western Carolina, Jacksonville State and Jackson State. The three players participating as individuals are Araceli Felgueroso of Coastal Carolina, Lene Krog of East Carolina, and Amanda Mathis of Mississippi State.