May 23, 1998
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The rest of the field at the NCAA Division I women's golf championship crowded into the University Ridge clubhouse, waiting out an hour-long rainstorm by eating pizza and bagels.
Jennifer Rosales, Southern California's 19-year-old freshman from the Philippines who was atop the leaderboard at the time, was too nervous to eat. She opted for some motherly advice. "I called my mother in Manila. She calmed me down," said Rosales, who went on to win the title by three strokes over Tulsa sophomore Christina Kuld.
Rosales shot a par round of 72 Saturday and finished with a 9-under-par 279 total in just her sixth collegiate tournament.
Despite freshman Grace Park's free fall from consecutive record-tying 65s on the first two days of the 72-hole medal play tournament, Arizona State won its second straight team title and fifth in six seasons.
"I am happy for the team," Park said. "But it is very hard to celebrate."
Behind senior Kellee Booth's steady play, ASU finished with a 3-over total of 1,115, 17 strokes better than surprising Florida, which overcame a disappointing ninth-place finish at the Southeastern Conference championship and the resignation of coach Kim Haddow last month.
Under interim coach Kelly Myers, the Gators finished fifth in the East Regional and fared better than 17 of the other 18 teams at the championship.
Arizona was third in the team competition, 18 strokes behind the rival Sun Devils. Duke was fourth, 24 strokes back.
Rosales figured she was through when she bogeyed the first three holes Saturday.
"I thought it was the end of the world," confessed Rosales, who enrolled at USC just last January after becoming academically eligible.
Rosales, who frequently reached into her pocket to rub a miniature statuette of the Virgin Mary, birdied No. 5 to get back on track. Her low round coming into the tournament was a 73, which she matched Friday and surpassed three times at the University of Wisconsin's bent grass course.
"I kind of felt like she's been our secret weapon," coach Andrea Gaston said. "Even when we were recruiting her, we kind of kept it quiet."
That will be impossible now. Rosales plans to return next year to try to become the first repeat champion in the history of the NCAA championship. "I have no plans to turn professional right now," Rosales said. "I have too much left to learn."
Rosales held a one-stroke lead over Kuld when the sirens sounded at mid-afternoon, indicating lightning and forcing the field of 99 golfers inside.
Park, a 19-year-old from Seoul and the nation's top-ranked collegiate player, finished four strokes behind Rosales, her co-leader at the start of the final round.
"I am very disappointed," Park said after her 76. "I had never lost a lead. I was always proud of that - that I could take care of a lead."
Kuld, a 24-year-old sophomore from Denmark whose eligibility expired Saturday, finished with a 72 and 6-under 282 total on the 6,033-yard layout.
"I learned a lot in my two years, the language, golf, and I met a lot of great friends," said Kuld, who plans to turn pro in 1999.
Booth was fourth, six strokes back at 284, and was followed by Duke's Jenny Chuasiriporn at 285 and New Mexico's Ryley Webb and Florida's Sara Beautell, both at 287.
Team Scores Arizona State 277-288-290-300-1155 Florida 285-296-288-304-1173 Arizona 290-288-296-300-1174 Duke 285-298-297-299-1179 LSU 291-301-301-294-1187 Tulsa 301-298-295-294-1188 Southern Cal 299-291-298-305-1193 New Mexico 294-304-301-300-1199 Stanford 304-292-305-298-1199 Georgia 296-295-303-307-1201 Texas 301-304-303-293-1201 Ohio State 294-299-310-305-1208 Indiana 284-303-313-309-1209 Oregon 310-294-312-297-1213 North Carolina 290-309-307-308-1214 Oregon State 298-307-308-312-1225 New Mexico St 301-296-317-312-1226 Washington 303-298-314-314-1229 Auburn 295-314-309-313-1231Individual Scores Jennifer Rosales, USC 68-66-73-72-279 Christina Kuld, Tulsa 70-72-68-72-282 Grace Park, Arizona State 65-65-77-76-283 Kellee Booth, Arizona State 68-71-73-72-284 Jenny Chuasiriporn, Duke 65-72-74-74-285 Ryley Webb, New Mexico 68-70-77-72-287 Sara Beautell, Florida 68-75-70-74-287 Jenna Daniels, Arizona 72-70-75-73-290 Stephanie Keever, Stanford 75-70-73-73-291 Riko Higashio, Florida 72-76-70-72-292 Krissie Register, Arizona 74-73-71-74-292 Paula Patterson, Oregon 76-71-78-68-293 AJ Eathorne, New Mexico St 71-72-76-74-293 Julia Boros, Georgia 70-70-75-79-294 Ashley Winn, LSU 72-77-76-70-295 Shauna Estes, Georgia 74-76-74-71-295 Alicia Allison, Duke 72-74-74-75-295 Niina Laitinen, Tulsa 72-75-72-76-295 Ann Pohira, Florida 71-69-73-82-295 Erin Carney, Indiana 74-72-77-73-296 Marisa Baena, Arizona 74-71-75-76-296 JeanneMarie Busuttil, ASU 71-76-71-78-296 Laura Blessey, Texas 77-74-76-70-297 Michelle Louviere, LSU 73-72-76-76-297 Marcy Newton, North Carolina 71-76-76-75-298 Kathleen Takaishi, Oregon St 70-75-77-76-298 Robin Cook, Auburn 80-73-72-72-299 Keri Cornelius, Arizona State 73-76-76-74-299 Nicole Dalkas, USC 76-71-73-79-299 Jennifer Waterhouse, Texas 74-76-76-74-300 Hilary Homeyer, Stanford 77-71-77-75-300 Heather Graff, Arizona 70-78-75-77-300 Marisa Wilhelm, Ohio State 74-75-73-78-300 Laura Moore, LSU 79-77-73-72-301 JJ McCormick, New Mexico 76-76-76-73-301 Jae Jean Ro, Stanford 73-76-78-74-301 Maria Boden, Oklahoma State 71-78-78-74-301 Jenny Gray, Indiana 67-80-79-75-301 Kalen Anderson, Duke 73-78-76-75-302 Tui Selvaratnum, Arizona State 77-77-70-78-302 Shelley McKevitt, N Carolina 71-77-75-79-302 Filippa Hansson, Duke 75-74-79-75-303 Natalie Mosher, Ohio State 72-75-81-75-303 Elisha Au, Washington 71-74-82-76-303 Salimah Mussani, Texas 76-75-75-77-303 Sasha Medina, New Mexico St 74-73-78-78-303 Reilley Rankin, Georgia 74-74-76-79-303 Johanna Josefsson, USC 77-76-76-75-304 Lisa Strom, Ohio State 75-75-78-76-304 Kylie Wilson, Oregon 78-74-78-75-305 Lauren Jeske, Florida 74-78-76-77-305 Britney Holt, New Mexico 71-79-77-78-305 Bethany Overstake, Ohio State 74-74-78-79-305 Jill Gomric, Arizona 75-74-76-80-305 Filippa Helmersson, Tulsa 78-81-78-69-306 Marty Goldthorp, Auburn 74-79-75-78-306 Anjeanette Dabbs, Oregon St 73-76-76-81-306 Stacy Sewell, Texas 77-79-76-75-307 Karen Bristow, Oregon 77-72-80-78-307 Virginia Costa, Florida 77-76-75-79-307 Kathryn Cusick, Alabama 76-74-76-81-307 Anika Heuser, Oregon 79-77-76-76-308 Heather Kraus, Kentucky 76-78-75-79-308 Andrea Cordova, Washington 72-77-79-80-308 Kristen MacLaren, UTEP 75-73-80-80-308 Amie Lehman, Duke 76-78-73-81-308 Patricia White, North Carolina 76-81-75-77-309 Laura Henderson, Georgia 78-75-78-78-309 Rachel Duncan, New Mexico St 76-71-81-81-309 Lisette Lee, LSU 75-75-76-83-309 Amy Sands, Texas 74-80-82-74-310 Katy Wilkinson, LSU 71-83-80-76-310 Shelly Bonfantine, New Mexico 79-80-74-77-310 Megan Morgan, North Carolina 73-77-83-77-310 Jessica Belskis, Stanford 79-75-77-79-310 Michelle Hatfield, Indiana 80-72-78-80-310 Rachel Borcherts, Oregon St 81-78-78-75-312 Danielle La Voie, USC 78-79-76-79-312 Sami Montgomery, Indiana 71-79-81-81-312 Amber Amstutz, Ohio State 74-81-82-76-313 Angie Hopkins, New Mexico 79-79-74-81-313 Julia Smith, Washington 82-72-82-78-314 Katie Gallina, Auburn 72-84-79-79-314 Jennifer Seger, Indiana 72-82-79-81-314 Stacy Rambin, Tulsa 81-77-80-77-315 Paola Bellotti, Washington 78-82-75-80-315 Jennifer Stapleton, Washington 82-75-78-81-316 Lee Shirley, North Carolina 75-79-81-81-316 Julie Dunn, Stanford 79-79-83-76-317 Lisa Penske, Tulsa 84-74-77-82-317 Ida Danielsson, USC 78-78-79-82-317 Audrey Fisher, Auburn 72-80-83-82-317 Carina Olsson, Oregon State 76-78-77-86-317 Pam Sowden, Oregon 79-78-82-80-319 Kate Dunn, New Mexico St 80-80-82-79-321 Shannon Ogg, Georgia 79-80-82-83-324 Kami Smith, Auburn 77-82-85-82-326 Anne Brooksby, Oregon State 79-89-86-80-334 Jennifer Gomez, New Mexico St. 90-91-95-91-367