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 Junior Malin Fryk leads Western this season entering the Southern Conference Championship. |
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April 14, 2007
Cullowhee, N.C. - After practice rounds on Saturday, the Western Carolina women's golf team is set to open play in the 2007 Southern Conference Women's Golf Championship on Sunday morning at 7:30 am at the Patriot Points Golf Links in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. WCU's first golfer, freshman Elin Mickelsson, is scheduled to tee-off at 8:55 am with the Catamounts No. 1, Malin Fryk, going off at 9:31 am.
The 2003 team tournament champion, Western finished as the runner-up a year ago just a mere two strokes behind defending champion, the College of Charleston a last year's championship at the Mill Creek Golf Club.
Last season, Charleston became just the third school to capture the women's golf title since the start of the event in 1994. Prior to 2006, Furman and Western Carolina were the lone schools to claim team titles in the history of the tournament. All told, Furman has won 11 of the 13 team championships, while the Catamounts won in '03.
Four different schools have claimed individual medalist honors, with Furman, UNC Greensboro (Lotta Jonson, 1999), Western Carolina (Brandy Andersen, 2003) and College of Charleston (Angie Hill, 2006) all featuring individuals with the top performance at the championship. A Furman student-athlete has taken top individual accolades 10 times since the start of the event, including current Furman head coach Jen Hanna's SoCon individual championship in 1998.
Entering this year's tournament, Western boasts three of the top six scoring averages in the SoCon with all five golfers ranking among the top 16 in the league, the most of any conference school. Junior Malin Fryk, who was the SoCon's Golfer of the Month for September, enters the championship with the second-best scoring average in the conference at 75.39 in 23 total rounds. Freshman Desiree Karlsson ranks fourth in her first collegiate season (75.84), with senior Bianca Melone in sixth at 76.74. A native of Orlando, Fla., Melone finished last season as the runner-up at Mill Creek continuing her career-trend of improving at each conference championship. The four-year starter earned her first golfer of the week accolades this season, garnering the honor back on March 28.
Rounding out Western's season scoring averages are junior Kandy Carland, who ranks 14th on the year with a stroke average of 78.48, and Mickelsson in 16th at 78.57. Carland is the third Catamount honored this season, receiving SoCon Golfer of the Week accolades on March 21.
The championship continues on Monday, April 16 with tee times set for 7:30 am. The final round of the championship also begins at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 17.
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