Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Ready for Big Ten Championships
4/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
April 21, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's 43rd-ranked women's golf team begins play at the Big Ten Conference Women's Golf Championships Friday through Sunday, April 22-24. The 72-hole tournament, which features all 11 Conference teams, is being hosted by the University of Michigan at U-M Golf Course in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The Wildcats enter the Championships on a bit of a roll. Northwestern has finished in the top six in its last four events and in the top three in two of its last three. The run includes a championship at the Mountain View Collegiate.
Spearheading the momentum has been sophomore Alice Kim (Los Angeles, Calif./Brentwood) and senior Ina Kim (Encino, Calif./Harvard-Westlake). Alice enters the event as the seventh-ranked golfer in the Big Ten according to the Golfweek/Sagarin individual rankings and leads NU regulars in scoring average (75.48). She fired a 5-over 221 to finish third in last week's Lady Buckeye Invitational.
NU's second leading scorer, Ina Kim, has also been playing strong of late. In her last four tournaments, she finished in the top 10 twice and in the top 20 once.
NU is seeded fifth in the Championships, but has proven it can compete with the upper echelon of the field. Just two weeks ago at the Lady Boilermaker Invitational, the 'Cats finished third -- two strokes back of second-seeded and 26th-ranked Michigan. NU placed seven shots ahead of host Purdue (No. 3 seed, 34th-ranked).
Both Michigan and Ohio State can claim some right to the title of favorite in the Championships. Three-time defending champion OSU enters the event as the No. 1 seed and ranked 10th in the nation. The Buckeyes feature seniors Kristen White and Lindsay Knowlton, who are ranked 11th and 19th respectively. However, the Wolverines own the home-course advantage and a win over Ohio State earlier in the 2004-05 season. That victory, one of a Big Ten-leading four titles for Michigan, came by four strokes in the Lady Northern -- dubbed the Big Ten Championships Fall Preview -- which was also played on U-M Golf Course.
"We know the course and know the competition, and expect to contend for the title," says head coach Chris Regenberg. "We have to play well, though -- there's no doubt about it. Michigan has a huge advantage playing on its home course and Ohio State has an outstanding team led by two great players. We're looking forward to this weekend."
In the Lady Northern, the fall season-opener for the 'Cats, NU finished fifth among Big Ten schools and was paced by freshman Brittany Johnston (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) and Alice Kim, who both finished in 22nd place at 12-over. As a team, NU shot 302 and 303 in the first two rounds but faltered in the final round with a 316 for a 921 total.
U-M Golf Course will be set up to play to a par of 72 and 5,966 yards long -- the same as it was for the Lady Northern.
The 'Cats have a three-round event stroke average of 896.3 on par-72 courses that play under 6,000 yards (three) versus 926.2 on courses over (five).
NU is scheduled to play a practice round on Thursday before playing the opening 36 holes on Friday. Rounds three and four are set for Saturday and Sunday.
Live scoring and results are available for the tournament by linking to Big Ten Women's Golf Championships. Other tournament information can be found at Big Ten Women's Golf and Michigan Women's Golf.
