Michigan
NCAA Central Regional
U-M Ends Season With 17th-Place Finish at NCAA Central Regional
5/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Site: Columbus, Ohio
Course: OSU's Scarlet Course (par 72, 6,246 yards)
Tournament: NCAA Central Regional (Day 3 of 3)
U-M Standing: 17th Place of 21 Teams (312-321-327/960)
Top U-M Individual: Ashley Bauer, tie-46th (74-79-81/234)
Next Event: Season Completed
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- With high winds elevating scores across the leaderboard, the University of Michigan women's golf team posted a final-round 327 today (Saturday, May 9) to finish 17th at the NCAA Central Regional with a 960 total at Ohio State's Scarlet Course.
Paced by a two-over 74 from junior Ashley Bauer (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc HS) and a four-over 76 from freshman Milena Savich (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS), the Wolverines produced a solid 312 in Thursday's first round to hold 16th place, just nine shots out of the top eight in the 21-team field. After a good start to the second round, the Wolverines found trouble on their second nine, posting a 321 team total and dropping to the 18th spot after 36 holes. With three players -- Bauer, Savich and freshman Brooke Bettis (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North HS) -- closing with 81s in the wind-riddled final round, the Wolverines finished with a 327 tally, giving them a 960 team total and a chance to move up one spot to 17th. U-M's season is now completed as only the top eight teams advance.
As for the Wolverine individuals, Bauer closed as the top Wolverine for the seventh time this season with a 234 total, giving her a top-50 finish at 46th. She paced the way in the first round with a two-over 74 and carded rounds of 79 and 81. In her first regional tournament, Savich tied for 61st at 238 with an opening-round 76 and back-to-back rounds of 81. In her final tournament as a Wolverine, senior Lydia Benitez Colon (Dorado, Puerto Rico/Pendleton School) tied for 84th with a 244 total following rounds of 79, 81 and 84. Bettis, who made just her second collegiate start, tied for 95th at 249 (86-82-81), and sophomore Min Yean Tan (Penang Island, Malaysia/Hills International College) was a shot behind at 250 (83-80-87), putting her 98th.
The second-ranked UCLA Bruins took the team regional title with an 877, 54-hole total for a 19-shot victory. The Bruins took a commanding lead on the first day, posting a four-under 284 to take an 11-shot lead, and never looked back, following with rounds of 290 and 303. In addition to the team title, UCLA had three individuals among the top 10 as Maria Jose Uribe won medalist honors with a four-under 212 (69-70-73), while teammate Stephanie Kono was the runner-up with a three-under 213 (69-70-74).
Big Ten champion and ninth-ranked Purdue was one of three Big Ten teams to advance to the NCAA Finals. The Boilermakers placed runner-up at 896 (295-289-312). Maude-Aimee LeBlanc finished fourth individually at 216 (71-69-76) and Maria Hernandez earned fifth at 218 (73-72-73) to lead the Boilermakers. Michigan State advanced with a fifth-place 905 total (295-300-310), as did host Ohio State, which closed seventh at 917 (306-293-318). Oklahoma State, Wake Forest, New Mexico and Chattanooga each advanced as well. Oklahoma's Kendall Dye and Louisville's Cindy LaCrosse, after winning a one-hole playoff, advanced as the individuals.
U-M's season is now completed. The Wolverines won two tournaments and had six total top-five finishes while tying a school record with 13 events.
Team Standings
1. UCLA 284-290-303 = 877 (+13) 2. Purdue 295-289-312 = 896 3. Wake Forest 298-295-306 = 899 4. Oklahoma State 297-292-312 = 901 5. Michigan State 295-300-310 = 905 6. New Mexico 301-296-315 = 912 7. Ohio State 306-293-318 = 917 8. UT Chattanooga 303-299-320 = 922 9. Georgia State 303-305-318 = 926 10. Washington 308-300-319 = 927 11. Louisville 308-307-317 = 932 12. Kent State 305-304-325 = 934 13. Kentucky 308-301-326 = 935 14. Stanford 310-304-332 = 946 15. N.C. State 312-307-335 = 954 16. Notre Dame 316-305-338 = 959 17. MICHIGAN 312-321-327 = 960 18. Illinois State 311-313-339 = 963 19. Harvard 318-323-338 = 979 20. Murray State 322-327-341 = 990 21. Fairleigh Dickinson 328-321-346 = 995
Top Individuals
1. Maria Jose Uribe, UCLA 69-70-73 = 212 (-4)
2. Stephanie Kono, UCLA 69-70-74 = 213
3. Jodi Ewart, New Mexico 71-72-72 = 215
4. Maude-Aimee LeBlanc, Purdue 71-69-76 = 216
5. Maria Hernandez, Purdue 73-72-73 = 218
6. Lindsey Solberg, Michigan State 75-76-72 = 223
7. Nannette Hill, Wake Forest 72-73-79 = 224
Laura Kueny, Michigan State 73-74-77 = 224
Sydnee Michaels, UCLA 70-77-77 = 224
10. Caroline Hedwall, Oklahoma State 74-72-79 = 225
Caroline Masson, Oklahoma State 74-74-77 = 225
Other Michigan Individuals
T46. Ashley Bauer 74-79-81 = 234 T61. Milena Savich 76-81-81 = 238 T84. Lydia Benitez Colon 79-81-84 = 244 T95. Brooke Bettis 86-82-81 = 249 98. Min Yean Tan 83-80-87 = 250
N O T E S
• Michigan has made seven total NCAA regional appearances, with five coming as a team (2001, '02, '05, '07 and '09) and two with invited individuals -- Laura Olin (2004) and Amy Schmucker (2006).
• Michigan closes the 2008-09 season with two team titles in 13 events. The Wolverines won the rain-shortened Wolverine Invitational and the Red Rocks Invitational, boosting U-M's trophy case to 30 total team titles in the history of the program.
• For just the third time in U-M history, the Wolverines play in a school-record 13 events in a season. The only other times the Maize and Blue hit 13 events was during the 2000-01 season, advancing to the East Regional, and the 2001-02 season, advancing to the program's only NCAA Finals appearance.
• Ashley Bauer was the top-finishing Wolverine in a tournament for the eighth time in 13 events. With her final season scoring average of 76.46, she won the U-M Women's Golf Low Stroke Average Award for the second straight campaign. She continues to hold on to the all-time career scoring average record with a 76.48 per-round average.
• The Michigan duo of Ashley Bauer and Milena Savich finished 1-2 in seven of the 13 events this season.
• Ashley Bauer is the only Wolverine with prior NCAA regional experience, playing in the 2007 Central Regional, which was hosted by Michigan at the U-M Golf Course. She closed in a tie for 40th at 228 (76-78-74).
• With her start at this weekend's NCAA Central Regional, Ashley Bauer has yet to miss a tournament in her career at Michigan, playing in 36 straight events. Bauer is one of two Wolverines with consecutive-event streaks along with Min Yean Tan, who has played in 24 straight events to begin her career. Newcomer Milena Savich has started all 13 events this season.
• After playing in four events as an individual, Brooke Bettis started the last two events of the season -- both in the postseason at the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Central Regional.
• Michigan bids farewell to senior Lydia Benitez Colon, who played in her final tournament asa Wolverine at the NCAA Central Regional. In her four years, the two-time captain played in 32 events with 25 starts, tallying a 79.82 per-round average.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Kathy Teichert
On the regional weekend ... "We actually got off to a good start. We were on the board and just nine shots out after the first day. When we started the second round, we thought we were not that far out of it, we just needed to have another good day. We got off to good start, but we got behind the eight ball on the second nine and it was like a domino effect. We just couldn't recover.
"There are just a couple of holes that just made it difficult. That was the case all weekend. We just didn't have that spunk we normally had (in the second round). We lost some confidence with certain parts of their games, and it was hard to recover. We were not able to get that one good shot or that one good hole to get us going again. Today, it was really, really windy. It reminded me of the Big Tens just last week. You look at a team like UCLA, who finished today 15-over par after playing two-under during the first two rounds. That tells you what kind of conditions we had to play in. But this is a good golf course and it was a really well-run event.
"We just were not able to meet our goal. It's disappointing that the season had to come to an end. We set our goal at making it to the NCAA Finals and we only accomplished part of that. But you have to look at the overall year. We had a pretty solid year, we made some progressions. We just need to take what we learned from this year and move forward. We need to make sure we look to the future."
Players Mentioned
