March 8, 2006
GUADALAJARA , Mexico - The No. 2 Arizona State women's golf team finished tied for fourth place after shooting a nine-over, 297 in the third and final round of the Cal Guadalajara Invitational on Wednesday.
Finishing in first place was No. 3 UCLA, which shot a 286 (-2) in the third round and finished the tournament with an even-par score of 864. The Bruins finished seven strokes ahead of second-place and No. 7 USC (871, +7), which began the day with a three-stroke lead before shooting a 296 (+8) in the third round. The top-ranked Duke Blue Devils finished in third place (874), followed by ASU and No. 8 Georgia, which both had three-round scores of 882 to finish tied for fourth place in the 11-team field.
The Sun Devils came into the Cal Guadalajara Invitational seeking their third consecutive tournament victory after posting back-to-back wins at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge (Feb. 13-15) and the Wildcat Invitational (Feb. 20-21).
"We didn't putt as well as we could have and that was the difference today," said Arizona State women's golf coach Melissa Luellen. "We didn't putt the way we did (at the Wildcat Invitational)."
The Sun Devils began Wednesday's action in third place after shooting an even par score of 288 on Tuesday to pull within 10 shots of the lead. Tuesday's score would prove to be ASU's lowest of the tournament as ASU's third round score matched its first round score of 297 (+9) on Monday.
"It's a little disappointing to finish fourth, but in a good way," added Luellen. "After performing the way we did in the last two tournaments this team believes it can win anytime it goes out on the course."
Freshman Azahara Munoz led the Sun Devils with a 10th-place finish (218, +2) after shooting a 71 (-1) on Wednesday. Munoz' score tied junior Tiffany Tavee for the lowest round by a Sun Devil in the tournament. Tavee shot a 71 during Tuesday's second-round play before coming back with a 74 (+2) on Wednesday to finish in 11th place (219, +3). Also shooting a 74 (+2) on Wednesday was freshman Jennifer Osborn, who finished in a three-way tie for 12th place with a 220 (+4). Rounding out the Sun Devil finishers were senior Alissa Kuczka, who shot a 78 in the third round to finish in a three-way tie for 24th place (225, +9) and sophomore Brooke Todare, who shot a 79 (+7) on Wednesday to finish in 37th place (232, +16).
Irene Cho of USC won the tournament with a three-day score of 203 (-13).
The Sun Devils will be off from tournament action until the end of the month when they host the 2006 PING/ASU Invitational March 31 - April 2 at the ASU Karsten Golf Course.