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 SoCon women's golfer of the year hopeful, senior Ashley Hovda, ranks third in the SoCon in scoring average but leads the conference with two individual wins and eight top 10 finishes this season. |
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April 20, 2006
2006 Southern Conference Women's Golf Championship - LIVE SCORING
Tour the Mill Creek Golf and Country Club - Mebane, N.C.
Cullowhee, N.C. - Led by a trio of seniors and a roster that boasts four collegiate tournament medalists, the Western Carolina women's golf team heads to the annual Southern Conference Women's Golf Championships this weekend, Friday, April 21 through Sunday, April 23, at the Mill Creek Golf and Country Club in Mebane, N.C. Action from the par 72, 5,715-yard venue begins with practice rounds on Thursday with the opening round commencing on Friday morning.
Western will take the course at 8:40 am with all five golfers teeing off between then and 9:12 am.
In the 12-year history of SoCon women's golf championships, the Catamounts are only one of two schools to have ever captured the team title, with the Furman Lady Paladins dominating the league with the other 11 titles. WCU claimed the team crown in 2003 and the Catamounts finished in fourth as a team last season for the fifth-time in school history.
"We are going to this tournament with high expectations coming off the best season ever in Western Carolina women's golf history," said WCU Director of Golf and women's head coach, Steve Lott. "If we can go and play the way we have shown ourselves capable, we can win the conference tournament again. But it all comes down to three days, three rounds of golf and we are among a very talented conference field this year."
The "most successful year" Lott alluded to includes nine, top five team finishes in 10 seasonal events, including tying the school-record for first-place finishes with three-consecutive wins to open the season. In head-to-head competition versus other SoCon schools also entered in the same tournaments as the Catamounts, Western posted a 25-1 record, only finishing behind the College of Charleston at the Edwin Watts/Palmetto Intercollegiate in the fall. In its own record book, this season's women's golf team has posted the top three team individual rounds, as well as set the benchmark for two-round tournament totals with a 576 at the annual Wachovia/Great Smokies Intercollegiate, smashing the previous 36-hole score by 10 strokes. Individually, WCU golfers have also recorded the lowest single- and two-round scores in school history.
Western is led by SoCon Women's Golfer of the Year hopeful, senior Ashley Hovda. The Springfield, Ohio, native has recorded two individual championships this season and finished in the top 10 as an individual in eight of the 10 seasonal events. She, along with sophomore teammate Malin Fryk, hold the top two individual stroke averages in school history. Hovda, who at one point this season led the entire nation in scoring average according to the Golfstat rankings, is averaging 74.83 strokes per round through 24 total rounds. Twice this year, Hovda carded 18-hole rounds of 66, the lowest in the league this year.
Hovda currently ranks third in the SoCon's scoring matrix, half a stroke behind Angie Hill from the College of Charleston who leads with a 74.26 average. Last year, Hovda claimed the runner-up position with the second-best WCU individual score at the conference event (223). Hovda will be the final member of the WCU squad to take to the course on Friday morning.
The Catamounts' second option, the Swedish-born Fryk, is shooting 76.25 this season, the second-best individual stroke average in WCU single-season history. Standing one round shy of debuting on Western's career chart, Fryk's current scoring average would rank atop the list as she winds down her first year at WCU. She wasted no time this season, bursting onto the scene with back-to-back even par rounds to win the season-opening Appalachian State/Draper Valley Invitational. The Trollhattan, Sweden native enters the conference championship ranked fourth just behind Hovda in the league's matrix.
Sophomore Malin Fryk ranks fourth in the SoCon in scoring average entering this year's SoCon Championship. |
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Western's roster rounds out with a pair of individual medalists, including 2003 SoCon champion senior Brandy Andersen, and the most recent addition to the winner's circle, sophomore Kandy Carland, giving Western four players who have won individual titles. Although Andersen has struggled through injuries this season, she has shown signs of her `03 self with a trio of top 10 finishes, including leading the squad with a sixth-place finish at the Augusta State Lady Jaguar Invitational last November. Carland has found her stroke as of the end of the season, recording top 20 finishes in her final three tournaments including her first career individual medalist honors two weeks ago at the High Point Spring Invitational.
"It really is a rarity to have four individuals on one team that have all won individual medalist honors," said Lott. "We are fortunate enough to be able to say that any one of our players, especially our four former winners, can step up and take the individual title."
One can not over look the fourth and fifth scorers in Western's lineup this year as junior Bianca Melone and senior Erika Danford. Both have had the best seasons of their career, with Danford turning in the 12th-best single-season and Melone right behind in 14th. The duo has also moved up on the WCU career scoring charts, with Melone moving to sixth and Danford resting eighth. Melone posted her best finish of the season in early March, leading the team with a ninth-place showing at the South Alabama Lady Jaguar Invitational in Mobile, Ala. Danford's best showing was at the home event in Waynesville, placing in a tie for 14th with the sixth-best, two-round score in school history at the Great Smokies.
Carland will be the first Catamount golfer to hit the links, teeing off at 8:40 am, followed by Melone, Andersen, Fryk, and concluded with Hovda at 9:12 am.
Looking at the race for the individual championship, the top four golfers from the SoCon this season, including Hovda, Hill, Fryk and Kathleen Ekey from Furman all must be considered front runners. Three of the four have won individual titles this season, with Hovda posting two wins to lead the pack. In head-to-head competition, Hovda is the only undefeated individual as she placed ahead of Hill at the aforementioned Palmetto Intercollegiate.
However, Lott is quick to point out that the field is wide open entering this year's championships.
"Mill Creek is a very good golf course and is set up to give several teams a legitimate chance to win. And in that, there are several individuals that may not rank at the top in scoring average right now that will have a chance to take home individual medalist honors," Lott added. "I would venture a guess that upwards of five different teams have a chance at this season's SoCon title."
The Southern Conference Championship begins on Friday, April 21 at Mill Creek in Mebane, N.C. There will be live scoring for the tournament, updated every nine holes, by visiting www.golfstatresults.com. At the conclusion of each day, a full recap will be available both at www.SoConSports.com and www.CatamountSports.com.
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