University of Washington
NCAA Championships
Husky Golfers Open NCAAs Tied for Fifth
May 17, 2005 | Women's Golf
May 17, 2005
First-Round Husky Photo Gallery
Sunriver, OR - Washington women's golf coach Mary Lou Mulflur told her team to imagine they were 10 strokes behind when they started their opening round of play at the NCAA Championships. The motivational tactic worked. The Huskies charged out in aggressive fashion and ended the first round tied with top-ranked Duke for fifth place after shooting 8-over 292.
USC owns a one-stroke lead over defending NCAA Champion UCLA at the top of the leaderboard. The Trojans shot 3-over 287. Auburn is third at 290 while Pepperdine is fourth at 291. California's seventh place showing gives the Pac-10 five of the top seven teams after the opening round of play.
After starting poorly the last few years in postseason play, Mulflur said it was time to make the slow starts an issue.
"This is the first time all year that we talked about the fact that we haven't played well early in tournaments," Mulflur said. "You cannot be in contention after a poor round. So I just told them to imagine they were 10 shots back and lets go make up some ground today. That was our mentality starting out and it obviously didn't hurt us."
Playing in cold and windy conditions at the par-71 Meadows Course at the Sunriver Resort, the Huskies were hot during their opening nine.
Led by Mackenzie, UW made the turn at 1-over and were atop the leaderboard among the teams playing in the morning session.
"I was standing on the first tee and I heard coach shout, 'Remember, we're 10 strokes back," Mackenzie said. " So I said to myself, 'That's right we're down 10. Let's go.' I started par, birdie, birdie." That approach, it gives you a sense of urgency. I think everybody took it the right way."
Mackenzie and sophomore Amber Prange led the Huskies with 1-over scores of 72. They are tied with seven other players for 12th place and trail Pepperdine's Carolina Llano by three shots for the lead. Llano's 2-under 69 was one of only two scores under par on the opening day. USC's Dewi Schreefel shot 1-under 70.
Mackenzie was 11th at last year's NCAAs after placing 25th as a freshman. Her opening round was identical to last year's start at Auburn where she shot 1-over 73 during the first day. Prange carded an 8-over 80 in her NCAA debut last spring.
In addition to Mackenzie and Prange, the Huskies got solid outings by sophomore Courtney McCracken and Sung Ea Lee. Both golfers contributed 3-over 74 performances while freshman Kim Shin, slowed by a sore leg, shot 79.
Lee's opening round was her best in more than a month. She shot 79 to start the Pac-10 Championships and posted an 80 to open the NCAA East Regional.
"Sung played well and we need her and she knows that we need her to play better than she has the last couple of tournaments," Mulflur said. "She made a slight adjustment on the range this morning and that seemed to help her today. Getting her back is huge. The problems she has had the past few weeks, she didn't have any of them today."
Washington enters Wednesday's second round in much better shape than a year ago. The Huskies finished their first round at the NCAAs a year ago in 18th place. They went on to post a sixth-place finish, the best in school history.
"We seem to have the mentality that we do better when we have to come from behind," Mulflur said. "We're not out her to protect anything. We want to keep playing aggressively."
The 72-hole tournament continues through Friday. Washington will tee off at 2:10 p.m. during its second round. Live scoring of the event is online at golfstat.com
2005 NCAA Divison I Women's Golf Championships
The Meadows Course
Sunriver, Ore.
Par-71, 6312 yards
First Round Results
Team Results1. Southern California 287 2. UCLA 288 3. Auburn 290 4. Pepperdine 291 5. Washington 292 5. Duke 292 7. California 295 8. Arkansas 296 9. Oklahoma State 298 10. Stanford 300 10. Tennessee 300 12. Florida 301 12. Ohio State 301 14. Arizona State 304 15. Michigan State 304 15. Virginia 304 17. Brigham Young 305 17. Texas A&M 305 17. Tulane 305 20. Missouri 307 20. Furman 307 20. Tulsa 307 23. Purdue 309 24. UC Irvine 311
Individual Leaders 1. Carolina Llano, Pepperdine 69 2. Dewi Schreefel, USC 70 3. Sara Brown, Michigan State 71 3. Amie Cochran, UCLA 71 3. Wendra Liang, Stanford 71 3. Charlote Mayorkas, UCLA 71 3. Amanda McCurdy, Arkansas 71 3. Brooke Shelton, LSU 71 3. Karin Sjodin, Oklahoma State 71 3. Marci Turner, Tennessee 71 3. Nicole Melton, Texas A&M 71 12. Leanne Bowditch, Pepperdine 72 12. Veronica Felibert, USC 72 12. Stacy Lewis, Arkansas 72 12. Paige Mackenzie, Washington 72 12. Catalina Marin, USC 72 12. Maria Martinze, Auburn 72 12. Jennifer Pandolfi, Duke 72 12. Amber Prange, Washington 72 12. Abigale Schepperle, Auburn 72
Washington Scores 12. Paige Mackenzie 72 12. Amber Prange 72 35. Sung Ea Lee 74 35. Courtney McCracken 74 98. Kim Shin 79
