Cougars prepare for NCAA West Regional

BYU's women's golf team travels to Tempe, Arizona to compete in the 2000 NCAA West Regional on May 11-13 at Karsten Golf Course. The Cougars are one of 24 teams competing for 11 spots on the NCAA Championships invitation list. The west region is by far the most difficult region in the country with seven out of the top ten teams from that region including No. 1 Arizona. BYU has qualified for the NCAA West Regional in seven out of the last eight years including an 11th-place finish in 1993.

Last year the Cougars just missed qualifying, but in 1998 BYU placed 20th overall. BYU is led by Sophomore Carrie Summerhays, who has been the low Cougar in every tournament this season. The Cougars are ranked No. 48 in the country and have fared well against some of the ranked opponents who they will face in the NCAA West Regional. In tournaments this season BYU has beaten No. 22 Oklahoma, No. 27 Nebraska, No. 45 Oregon State and No. 49 Washington State.

The Cougars, who have played well during their last three tournaments, hope to continue their current momentum. BYU won the Mike Farrell Invitational in Ogden on May 2 and placed second at the Mountain West Championships behind No. 16 New Mexico. BYU was one of two teams from the Mountain West Conference to qualify for the West Regional, while all ten of the PAC-10 conference schools qualified.

Carrie Summerhays easily won the Mike Farrell Invitational and set a new tournament record with her two-round 144. This was her second tournament victory of the season and her fourth career victory. This puts Summerhays in second place in career victories at BYU behind Pam Miller who won six tournaments during her career in the early 1980s. Summerhays came very close to collecting her fifth career victory at the MWC Championships, but narrowly missed after Wyoming's Jordan Lintz shot a sizzling final round 71 to slip past Summerhays. Summerhays, the daughter of Bruce Summerhays a current Pro on the PGA Senior Tour, has placed in the top ten in seven out of the Cougars eleven tournaments this season.

Summerhays earned Co-Mountain West Player of the Year honors with Ryley Webb of New Mexico. She was also named to the All-Conference team for the second year in a row. Summerhays has also been invited to represent the U.S. in the upcoming 2000 U.S./Japan Matches in Japan on June 25-July 1. Summerhays was one of four female amateur golfers from the U. S. to be selected to this elite team.

Members of the US/Japan Matches Women's Squad

Coach: Kristi Coggins from South Carolina

The players are:

Danielle Downey (Fr.) from Auburn,

Carrie Summerhays (So.) from BYU,

Angie Yoon (Jr.) from Nevada-Reno

Marcy Newton (Sr.) from North Carolina

Alternate is Sasha Medina (Jr.) from New Mexico St.....

Besides Summerhays the Cougars have had significant contributions in the last few tournaments from fellow sophomores Adrianne Gibby and Jessica Gardner. Both have finished in the top ten in the last two tournaments after shooting some of their lowest scores of the season. Gibby placed third at the Mountain West Championships after shooting a personal-record 70 in the final round. Gibby also placed fourth at the Mike Farrell invitational. Gardner placed ninth at the Mountain West Championships and eighth at the Mike Farrell Invitational.

BYU WEST REGIONAL FINISHES

1992-93* 11th

1993-94 13th

1994-95 18th

1995-96 14th

1996-97 16th

1997-98 20th

*First year of NCAA Regional Format

BYU's Starting Line-up Stroke Average

1. Carrie Summerhays, So. 75.1

2. Adrianne Gibby, So. 78.73

3. Jessica Gardner, So. 80.55

4. Summer Pierce, Jr. 80.74

5-0 Nicole Parry, Sr. 80.85

NCAA WEST REGIONAL INFORMATION

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.

Last Year, USC won the 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.

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.

Date	Tournament				Score                Finish/Teams		
Sep 13-14	BYU Invitational	308-320-306--934	3rd/11	
Sep 23-25	Dick McGuire Invit.	317-318-311--946	15th/18	
Oct 11-13	Edean Ihlanfeldt	329-309-325--963	10th/13	
Nov 9-10	Hawaii Fall Golf Cl.	309-313-319--941	4th/14	
Feb 28-29	Bay Area Classic	322 -310--632		5th/17	
Mar 6-8	Spartan Invitational	323-315-321--959	11th/14	
Mar 12-14	Pioneer/Bruin Classic	302-316-304--922	7th/16	
Mar 27-28	Lady Aztec			309-306--615		6th/20	
Apr 3-4	Utah Dixie Classic	306-308-312--926		6th/25	
Apr 24-26	MWC Championship	310-314-304--928	2nd/5	
May 2	Mike Farrell Invitational	310-304--614		1st/5