May 4, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern will tee it up in the 54-hole 2005 NCAA West Regional Thursday through Saturday, May 5-7. New Mexico State University is hosting the event on the NMSU Golf Course in Las Cruces, N.M. Eight teams and two individuals from the 21-team regional qualify for the championship final.
NU, one of 63 teams in this year's championships, garnered the No. 17 seed in the West Regional. However, the 'Cats are the 14th-highest ranked team in the regional field at No. 44 according to the Golfweek/Sagarin index.
The 'Cats are competing in a regional for the fifth time in the last six years. Last year in the Central Regional, NU came up just eight strokes shy of advancing to the championship final. The 'Cats last advanced past the Regionals in 2000.
"This year's team has the talent to play in the finals," NU head coach Chris Regenberg said. "We need to make good course management decisions, and we cannot afford to put too much pressure on ourselves."
NU is led by two golfers who hail from the West Coast -- senior captain Ina Kim (Encino, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) and sophomore Alice Kim (Los Angeles, Calif./Brentwood). Ina and Alice, who are not related, were both tabbed second-team All-Big Ten this year.
NU's regional lineup consists of one senior, three sophomores and one freshman. Joining the Kims are: Kelly Robb (Concord, Mass./Middlesex School), Heather Scholten (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) and Brittany Johnston (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit).
The West Regional is loaded with strong teams. The top 10 seeds are all ranked in the top 26 nationally, and nine conference champions are in the West Regional. Pacific-10 Conference champion UCLA is the top seed and ranked second in the country.
"We are excited to be in the West Regional," Regenberg said. "We have a great chance of advancing, if we can avoid counting any poor rounds."
Last week's Big Ten Championships featured winds with gusts up to 35 miles per hour, temperatures in the 30's and snow which forced the cancellation of the final round. The weather in Las Cruces should be more suitable for golf. The forecast calls for highs in the 80's and partly cloudy skies all three days.
The NMSU Golf Course hosted the NCAA Women's Golf Championships in 1998. It underwent a major renovation in the last year and now features a new layout. The layout is par 72 and is listed at 6,319 yards long. It will be the longest course NU has played this season.
In the opening round Thursday, NU begins play at 11:50 a.m. (12:50 p.m. CDT). Live scoring can be found by linking to 2005 NCAA West Regional. Other information can be found at New Mexico State Women's Golf and NCAA Women's Golf.
A total of 324 participants have been selected for the regional competition. Of these players, 126 will advance to the championship final. Eight teams and two individuals will advance from each of the three regions. The championship final will be held May 17-20 at Sunriver Resort on the Meadows Course in Sunriver, Ore.
West Regional Teams By Seed (Golfweek/Sagarin index):
1. UCLA (2)
2. Georgia (5)
3. Oklahoma State (7)
4. Tennessee (9)
5. Southern California (16)
6. Arizona (17)
7. California (25)
8. Washington State (23)
9. Stanford (24)
10. UNLV (26)
11. Oregon (34)
12. San Francisco (46)
13. UC Irvine (29)
14. Brigham Young (42)
15. Colorado State (50)
16. Portland State (94)
17. Northwestern (44)
18. Oral Roberts (84)
19. Illinois State (65)
20. Georgia State (45)
21. Denver (77)