Badgers finish 24th at NCAA Championship
May 23, 2003 | Women's Golf
Wisconsin shot its best score with a 312 in the final day of the 72-hole NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championship to finish 24th in its first national appearance with a 340-316-323-312'1291 at Purdue's Kampen Golf Course in West Lafayette, Ind.
Junior Malinda Johnson led all Badger scores tying for 55th in the field with a 79-76-75-80'310. Playing in her final collegiate event, senior Katie Connelly had the best score of the day with a 76 to tie at 88th with her 72-hole total 84-78-83-76'321.
Johnson summed up several players feelings when she said, 'It was a huge thing to get here and a great learning experience for me overall. I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot by watching these really good players. I need to get more physically fit and stronger to be able compete. It gave me a huge lift to really want to work at it and get better for next year. I'm just hoping I can get back here next year and put up a little better performance. I'm just happy we're here and it was a lot of fun.'
Redshirt freshman Jackie Obermueller had a 90-80-81-83'334 to rank 121st. Freshman Lindsay McMillen had a 93-82-84-76'335 to finish 122nd. Senior Carli Gregorin also closed out her college career and shot an 80 for her best round at this tournament to finish with an 87-94-84-80'345.
Badger coach Dennis Tiziani recognized the importance of his team 's first visit to the NCAA Championship. 'We finished at 312 today. Not too bad, in fact it was the lowest round of this tournament. There were a lot of bright spots for us. It was a great experience for everyone. To go there and confirm some things we have to work at to go back to this tournament. As we left here the common goal was we 're going come back we're going to be back at this event. They found out they can play in this league, and I think they know from a physical conditioning standpoint and a short game stand point what that will take.'
Southern California won its first NCAA team title with a 305-303-293-296'1197. Pepperdine was second with a 1212, followed by Texas at 1213. Big Ten champion Ohio State represented the northern climate with a fourth place finish of 1214.
Mikaela Parnlid of Southern California won the playoff with Andrea Van Lende of Florida on the first playoff hole to win the tournament. Both finished at nine over par 297. The teams endured high winds, rain, and cold temperature during the tournament.
For complete results on the Web log on to:
http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm 'tournament_id=308
