May 5, 2000
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State women's golf team will host the 2000 NCAA West Regional Golf Championships May 11-13 at the par 72, 6,131-yard Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz. Open since 1989, Karsten Golf Course has played host to a number of national tournaments, including the 2000 NCAA Women's West Regional, the 1998 NCAA Men's West Regional and the 1992 NCAA Women's Championships.
Twenty-four teams and six individuals from the West and Far West districts have qualified for the 2000 NCAA West Regional. All 24 teams are ranked in the top 50 in the latest MasterCard Collegiate Golf Rankings. The field includes seven of the top 10 teams in the nation in No. 1 Arizona, No. 3 USC, No. 4 Arizona State, No. 6 Pepperdine, No. 7 Stanford, No. 9 Oklahoma State and No. 10 New Mexico State. The rest of the field is made up of No. 11 San Jose State, No. 14 UCLA, No. 15 Texas, No. 16 New Mexico, No. 17 Tulsa, No. 22 Oklahoma, No. 23 TCU, No. 25 California, No. 26 Oregon, No. 27 Nebraska, No. 31 Missouri, No. 33 Washington, No. 34 Baylor, No. 35 Texas Tech, No. 45 Oregon State, No. 48 Brigham Young and No. 49 Washington State.
Individual qualifiers include Kristen MacLaren of UTEP, Jordan Lintz of Wyoming, Angie Yoon of Nevada, Acey Erlandson of Boise State, Emilie Arnaud of San Francisco and Heather Rollo of San Diego State. The field of individuals is just as distinguished featuring a total of 59 ranked players including the nation's top three golfers in top-ranked Jenna Daniels of Arizona, No. 2 Miriam Nagl of Arizona State and No. 3 Candi Kung of USC and 10 of the top 15.
The participants will play 18 holes each Thursday through Saturday, May 11-13 beginning at 7:30 a.m. Pacific from tees No. 1 and No. 10. The final group tees off at 1:20 p.m. each day. First- and second-round pairings are predetermined based on seeding, while final-round pairings will be based on team results after the first two rounds. The top four scores from each five-person team will count toward the team score.
Eleven teams and three individuals will qualify for the NCAA Championships from each of two regionals with Arizona State hosting the West Regional and the Ohio State University hosting the East Regional. An additional two team berths will be allocated to the region with the most teams ranked in the top 24. The NCAA Championships will be held at the Crosswater Golf Course in Sunriver, Ore., May 24-27 and are being hosted by Oregon State University.
Last year, USC won the NCAA West Regional which was held at Pine Forest Country Club in Houston, Texas, May 5-9. Arizona captured runner-up honors, while Arizona State, TCU and Stanford rounded out the top five. Arizona's Jenna Daniels is the returning individual medalist from one season ago.
Admission to the NCAA West Regional is free, while results will be available on the Arizona State web site, www.TheSunDevils.com.