Johnson Just Shy of NCAA Championship Invite
May 08, 2004 | Women's Golf
Wisconsin's senior standout golfer, Malinda Johnson, shot her lowest round Saturday, an even-par 71, at the NCAA Central Regional but was one spot short of a berth to the NCAA Championship. Johnson tied for tenth with 79-77-71=227 and finished third among individuals not advancing with a team, but the tournament only takes the top two.
Johnson and the other 107 competitors played 18 holes each on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. She was one of three individuals invited to the regional that were not competing with a team. The rest were vying for one of the top eight team spots that advance to the championship hosted at Auburn University.
The two players that beat Johnson for the individual spots were Laura Cross of Southern Methodist (72-71-79=222) and Samantha Richdale of host Illinois State (74-75-73=222). Both of their teams nearly advanced, finishing in a tie for ninth.
Vanderbilt claimed the 2004 NCAA Central Regional title with a three round total of 893. The win was the Commodores fifth tournament victory of the season and second straight after winning the Southeastern Conference title on April 18. The teams heading to the championship with Vanderbilt are Arizona (902), Michigan State (906), Southern California (910), Baylor (915), Purdue (917), New Mexico (918), and Texas A&M University (926). A third Big Ten team, Ohio State, also advanced from the West Regional.
Winning the individual medal was Arizona's Erica Blasberg. She carded an impressive one-under par 212 with rounds of 68-73-71. She takes the title as NCAA Central Regional Champion from former Wisconsin golfer Katie Connelly, who was the 2003 medalist.
Johnson will leave UW as one of the best golfers in program history. By completing her career Saturday, she set a new UW career average record of 76.19, beating the former low by 1.29 strokes. She also broke her own season average record of 75.94 (2002-03) with this season's average of 74.33 strokes per round.
Complete scores and results can be seen at www.golfstat.com.
