May 6, 2004
NORMAL, Ill. -- Northwestern's women's golf team is tied for 14th place (29-over 313) after the first round of the three-day NCAA Central Regional Championships, taking place at Illinois State's University Golf Course (par 71, 6,108 yards). The Wildcats, however, are still in the hunt for a top-eight spot, sitting just eight strokes behind the eighth-place team.
The top eight teams and the top two at-large individuals will advance to the NCAA National Championships on May 18-21 in Opelika, Ala.
Freshman Kelly Robb (Concord, Mass./Middlesex School) is NU's top golfer after the first 18 holes, sitting 23rd with a 5-over 76. NU's other top freshman, Alice Kim (Los Angeles, Calif./Brentwood), the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, was 5-over heading into her final four holes, but three bogeys and a double bogey on her final four holes dropped her to 10-over (81) and a 70th-place tie.
Junior Ina Kim (Encino, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) is in 38th place. She fired a 6-over 77.
Junior Mary Ellen Grzebien (Saunderstown, R.I./Narragansett) and freshman Heather Scholten (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) are both in 60th place with 9-over 80s.
Vanderbilt and New Mexico are tied for the team lead at 14-over (298). Arizona's Erica Blasberg and Texas A&M's Kyla Neal share the individual lead at 3-under.
Northwestern will tee off Saturday with the first five groups, beginning at 8 a.m.
Additional information for the NCAA Central Regional can be found at Illinois State Redbirds or NCAA Championships. Live stats are available at NCAA Central Regional Live Scoring.