April 16, 1999
Up Next:
Seven of the nation's top-20 women's golf teams, including fifth-ranked Arizona State converge on the Stanford Golf Course next week for the Pac-10 Championships April 23-25. ASU Coach Linda Vollstedt will field a lineup of SO Grace Park, SR Jody Niemann, FR Caroline Laurens, SR Tui Selvaratnam and SR Keri Cornelius. Competing for ASU as an individual will be FR Lisa Meredith.
About the Tournament
Stanford University is the host of the 1999 Pac-10 Championships, which will be held at the par-72, 6,154-yard layout at the Stanford Golf Course. The three-round tournament begins at 8:30 a.m. each day, with tee times off the No. 1 and No. 10 tees. Fourth-ranked Arizona is the two-time defending Pac-10 Champion. No. 5 Arizona State, the two-time defending NCAA Champion, will be looking to capture its first conference title since 1996. Other ranked participants include Stanford (6th Golfweek/10th MasterCard), USC (7th/5th), Washington (14th/11th), UCLA (17th/18th) and Oregon (NR/20th).
Park Rated No. 1 Collegian
Sophomore Grace Park is the No. 1-ranked women's golfer in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin individual rankings (April 15). Maintaining a stroke average of 71.25 in five collegiate appearances this season, Park has also accumulated thousands of frequent flier miles in 1998-99. She has competed in two LPGA events (Standard Register PING, Nabisco/Dinah Shore), the World Team Amateur Championships (Santiago, Chile) and the Samsung World Championship (Florida).
1998-99 STROKE AVERAGES
Name App. Top 10 Rds. Strokes Avg. Low Grace Park 5 4 13 950 73.08 66 Caroline Laurens 4 2 12 908 75.67 70 Jody Niemann 8 4 21 1590 75.71 72 Tui Selvaratnam 8 2 22 1667 75.77 70 Keri Cornelius 8 0 22 1737 78.95 73 Lisa Meredith 4 0 10 791 79.10 75 Michaela Friberg 6 1 17 1364 80.24 74 Molly Cooper 3 0 9 728 80.89 75
Head Coach Linda Vollstedt
Linda Vollstedt, now in her 19th season at the helm of the Sun Devils, is one of the most successful coaches in collegiate golf history. She has coached six NCAA Championship squads and garnered national coach of the year honors six times. Fourteen of her former student-athletes have gone on to play on the LPGA Tour. She has guided the Sun Devils to 10 top-10 NCAA finishes in the last 12 years. Vollstedt has coached 37 All-Americans, 61 All-Conference golfers, four U.S. Amateur champions and three NCAA Champions. ASU has won 64 tournaments by Vollstedt-coached squads. Vollstedt has been involved with ASU for 35 years, earning her bachelor's degree in 1969 and her master's degree in 1971. Her Sun Devil playing career began in 1964 and concluded in 1968. She is a native of Portland, Ore.
Keri Cornelius
SR Keri Cornelius (Scottsdale, Ariz.) tied for 15th at the PING/ASU Invitational, carding a score of 229 (78-75-76). Her finish was the highest the placement of the season. She shot a season-low round of 73 at the Arizona Invitational. After eight appearances, Cornelius has a 78.95 stroke average.
Career-Low Round: 69 ('97 NCAA West Regional)
Season-Low Round: 73 (Arizona Invitational)
Tui Selvaratnam
SR Tui Selvaratnam (Colombo, Sri Lanka) placed 12th at the PING/ASU Invitational after shooting rounds of 76, 80 and 71 (227). Her final round of 70 at the Spartan Invitational was a season low. Selvaratnam has two top-10 finish and five top-20 finishes with a 75.77 stroke average after eight appearances.
Career-Low Round: 67 (1997 NCAAs, 3rd round)
Season-Low Round: 70 (Spartan Invitational)
Grace Park
SO Grace Park (Phoenix, Ariz.) is ranked No. 1 in the latest Golfweek Rankings. Park won the individual title at the PING/ASU Invitational with a 219 (73-75-71). She tied for 39th at the Nabisco Dinah Shore Mar. 28 (75-71-74-70--290), finishing as the event's top amateur. She tied for 21st at the LPGA Standard Register PING (73-72-72-70--287) Mar. 21. Park fired a season-low 66 in the first round of the Arizona Invitational. In five appearances for ASU, Park has four top-10 finishes and a 73.08 stroke average.
Career-Low Round: 65 (twice, at 1998 NCAAs)
Season-Low Round: 66 (Arizona Invitational)
Jody Niemann
SR Jody Niemann (Rigby, Idaho) carded scores of 78, 72 and 73 to finish tied for third with a 223. She shot a season-low score of 72 in the second round of the tournament. Niemann's third place finish at the PING/ASU Invitational tied her highest placement of the season. She has a 75.71 stroke average and four top-10 finishes after eight appearances.
Career-Low Round: 69 (1996 Pac-10 Championships)
Season-Low Round: 72 (PING/ASU Invitational)
Michaela Friberg
SO Michaela Friberg (Rydeback, Sweden) finished tied for 69th at the PING/ASU Invitational with a 244 (85-83-76). She tied her season-low round of 74 at the Arizona Invitational. Friberg has one top-10 finish this season, and currently has a 80.24 stroke average after five appearances.
Career-Low Round: 73 (1996-97 GolfWorld Collegiate)
Season-Low Round: 74 (twice, Arizona Invitational)
Lisa Meredith
FR Lisa Meredith (Reading, England) shot rounds of 80, 79 and 78 to finish tied for 47th at the Golf World/Palmetto Dunes. She shot a season-low round of 75 at the Stanford/PEPSI Intercollegiate, and currently has a stroke average of 79.00. In her first collegiate tournament, Meredith turned in a 78 and 82 to finish tied for 60th at the Bama Fall Preview.
Career-Low Round: 75 (Stanford/PEPSI Intercollegiate)
Season-Low Round: 75 (Stanford/PEPSI Intercollegiate)
Molly Cooper
SO Molly Cooper (Tumwater, Wash.), competing individually, tied for 43rd at the PING/ASU Invitational with a 236 (77-84-75). Her third round score of 75 was a season low. In her first appearance as a Sun Devil, Cooper finished tied for 81st at the Stanford/PEPSI Intercollegiate. Her current stroke average is 80.89.
Career-Low Round: 72 (four times)
Season-Low Round: 75 (PING/ASU Invitational)
Caroline Laurens
No. 19-ranked Caroline Laurens (FR, Montpellier, France) tied for fifth at the PING/ASU Invitational, carding a 224 (82-70-72). Her round of 72 was a season and career low. After four appearances, Laurens has a 75.67 stroke average and two top-10 finishes.
Career-Low Round: 72 (PING/ASU Invitational)
Season-Low Round: 72 (PING/ASU Invitational)
Golfweek Sagarin College Rankings
(April 15, 1999) 1. Duke 2. Georgia 3. Tulsa 4. Arizona 5. ARIZONA STATE 6. Stanford 7. USC 8. Texas 9. Oklahoma State 10. Tennessee 11. TCU 12. Louisiana State 13. South Carolina 14. Washington 15. Auburn 16. Pepperdine 17. UCLA 18. Furman 19. New Mexico State 20. San Jose StateMasterCard Collegiate Golf Rankings
(April 14, 1999)
1. Duke
2. Arizona
3. Georgia
4. Tulsa
5. USC
6. ARIZONA STATE
7. Oklahoma State
8. TCU
9. Pepperdine
10. Stanford
11. Washington
12. Texas
13. Tennessee
14. Auburn
15. South Carolina
16. Louisiana State
17. Ohio State
18. UCLA
19. Indiana
20. Oregon