April 28, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State women's golf team will play host to the 2003 NCAA West Regional Golf Championships Thursday-Saturday, May 8-10 at the par 72, 6,256-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-one teams and three individuals from all over the country have qualified for the 2003 NCAA West Regional including Pepperdine, USC, Oklahoma State, UCLA, Ohio State, Arizona State, Stanford, New Mexico State, Washington, UNLV, San Francisco, San Jose State, Oregon State, Denver, Nevada, Illinois, Washington State, Oral Roberts, Cal State Northridge, Portland State and Bradley. Individual qualifiers are Nicole Keller of Idaho, Stella Lee of UC Irvine and Erin Kerr of Colorado.
Fifteen of the 21 teams are ranked in the top 50 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings including three of the top five teams in the nation and nine of the top 30 (No. 2 Pepperdine, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 4 USC, No. 13 UCLA, No. 16 Ohio State, No. 20 Washington, No. 26 New Mexico State, No. 27 Arizona State and No. 28 Stanford).
The participants will play 18 holes each day Thursday through Saturday, May 8-10 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 each round.
Eight teams and two individuals will qualify for the NCAA Championships from each of three regionals with Arizona State hosting the West Regional, Wake Forest University hosting the East Regional and the University of Nebraska hosting the Central Regional. Purdue University will play host to the 2003 NCAA Championships May 20-23 on the Kampen Course of the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Ind.
Last year, Pepperdine and UCLA tied for first with three-round totals of 19-over 883 at the NCAA West Regional which was held May 9-11 at the Stanford Golf Course in Palo Alto, Calif. California (889), Arizona (890) and Stanford (901) rounded out the top five. Arizona's Lorena Ochoa captured individual medalist honors with a six-under total of 210.
ASU's Karsten Golf Course last played host to the NCAA West Regional in 2000. That year, eventual national champion Arizona won the NCAA West Regional with a three-round total of 876, besting runner-up San Jose State (881) by five strokes. Arizona State's Miriam Nagl captured individual medalist honors in 2000 with a three-day total of seven-under 209.
Admission to the 2003 NCAA West Regional is free. Live scoring will be available for each round at www.golfstatlive.com, while complete results will also be available on ASU's official web site at www.thesundevils.com.