May 23, 2007
Daytona Beach, Fla. - The Arizona State women's golf jumped into a tie for eighth place after the second round of the NCAA National Championships in Daytona Beach, Fla. ASU shot a 10-over 298 in the second round for a two-day total of 29-over 605 (307-298).
"It was kind of a rough finish, where as yesterday we finished strong," said head coach Melissa Luellen. "We had two doubles [bogies] on the 18th hole and a couple bogies. That leaves a bad taste in their mouths. They came out competing today. They know that their best golf is still ahead of them. They are in great spirits and they will be clawing tomorrow."
Freshman Anna Nordqvist continued to lead the Sun Devils shooting a 2-under 70 in the second round for a two-day total of 1-over 145 (75, 70) to tie for eighth. Nordqvist, who played the second round believing she had been disqualified, showed immense poise through 18 holes. Nordqvist discovered she had left training aids in her golf bag after she teed off on the first hole and alerted rule officials.
"I tried to play my best," said Nordqvist. "I wasn't sure what would happen. Even though I thought I might get a penalty shot, I tried to play my best. Usually I use the training aid as a warm up and I forgot to put it in the coaches' cart before the round. It won't happen again."
The initial ruling was that Nordqvist would take a two-stroke penalty for playing a hole with the training aids in her golf bag. However, Luellen disagreed with the ruling.
"I argued, `what is the definition of a club'," said Luellen. "A club has a grip, a shaft and a club head or base that you would hit shots with. That particular training aid had no face on it, it was just weights. Had those weights been turned perpendicular then she would have been disqualified."
Because there was no rule that pertained to Nordqvist's situation in the decisions book, the rules official called the head of USGA golf, who also wasn't able to rule on the situation.
"Then they referred us to the club specifications [department] so they could give a definition of a golf club," said Luellen. "They said `good point' and looked into it."
The officials eventually ruled in Luellen's favor and Nordqvist was awarded no penalty strokes.
"It was risky [arguing about the specifications of club] because had they ruled it a nonconforming club, she would have been disqualified. We actually made history in the rules of golf."
Individually, sophomore All-American Jennifer Osborn shot a 2-over 74 in the second round for a two-round total of 8-over 152 (78-74) to tie for 36th. Sophomore All-American Azahara Munoz and freshman Juliana Murcia are tied for 55th after shooting a two-day total of 10-over 154 (78-76), (76-78), respectively. Senior Lindsay Anderson is tied for 120th after shooting a two-round total of 23-over 167 (83-84).
The Sun Devils previously played the par-72, 6,351 yard LPGA International's Legends Course during the NCAA Fall Preview, Sept. 22-24. Arizona State finished in sixth place shooting a 27-over 891 for the three-day tournament.
The NCAA National Championships continue Thursday and Friday. Arizona State will tee of at 1:20 p.m. EST on Thursday with Vanderbilt and Louisville. Tee times on Friday are determined by standing. Live hole-by-hole scoring is available at www.golfstat.com.