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Georgia, Duke keep crossing paths
Updated: Monday April 09, 2001 12:56 PM
By Aaron Levine, Special to CNNSI.com That whole "always a bridesmaid and never a bride" cliche is getting a little old for Georgia women's coach Todd McCorkle and his No. 7 Bulldogs. Old -- and frustrating, considering who the "bride" has been three of the last four times. Apparently, No. 1 Duke believes in polygamy, considering how many times it has been up the aisle this year. The Blue Devils won their sixth tournament of the year last week at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, beating host Georgia by 11 strokes, and leaving the Bulldogs wondering if they would ever don the veil and bouquet. "That's four tournaments in a row that we finished in second," McCorkle said. "It's hard when the No. 1 team in the nation is right up the road and plays in all the tournaments that we play in." The Bulldogs had placed second to Duke at the Lady Gamecock Classic last month and also at the College Golf Foundation Match Play Championships in Hilton Head, S.C., last November. This time around, Duke never really gave its hungry neighbors a chance to win their own event. The Blue Devils came out of the gates quickly on the 5,994-yard, par-72 University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga., by posting a tournament-best score of 3-over par 291 and bettering its nearest competitor, No. 9 Texas, by 11 strokes. Duke finished with a final score of 38-over par, 902, for the three rounds. Georgia, which was 13 strokes back after one round of play, was never able to make up the ground it had lost and finished in second place yet again. If there was an upside to the Bulldogs' finish, it was that they finished ahead of their Southeastern Conference rivals, No. 5 Auburn, which placed third, 24 strokes behind Duke. Auburn had bettered Georgia in February at the Lady Gator Classic in Florida, handing the Lady Bulldogs their second consecutive runner-up finish. The finish ahead of the Tigers should help build up the Lady Bulldogs' psyche with the SEC Championships only two weeks away. Duke's Kalen Anderson was the fourth Blue Devil of the season to capture an individual title with the win this week. She trailed Texas' Randy Meadows by five strokes heading into the final round, but shot the best score of the final round (73), while Meadows struggled to an 8-over 80 in extremely windy conditions. Anderson, whose winning total was a 5-over-par 221, was named Golf World's Player of the Week following her victory. Georgia's Angela Jerman, who finished four shots behind Anderson to take seventh place, was named the SEC Golfer of the Week. Her showing at Liz Murphey was her second consecutive top-10 finish. The difference between Georgia and Duke this week was certainly small enough to speculate that the Bulldogs have the potential to beat the nation's best team, especially since Georgia's Summer Sirmons struggled to a 26th-place finish. Sirmons, who is ranked 12th in the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings, had placed in the top 10 in her last five events before the event, and had established herself as one of the team's top players. So, if Sirmons were to have her "A" game the next time the two teams meet, the Bulldogs might just pull off the inevitable: by having wedding bells actually ringing for them.
Young and matureA first-year head coach and two freshmen leading the team. All would be signs of a rebuilding year, right? Hardly. If No. 2 Arizona is just rebuilding this year, then it is scary to guess where the squad might be in a couple of years. Led by first-year coach Greg Allen and the top two players in the country -- freshmen Lorena Ochoa and Natalie Gulbis -- the Lady Wildcats have already proven that they can beat the country's best teams. The squad beat Duke by 13 strokes at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational in February, and has won three tournaments this year. Allen admits that he has been lucky to coach a team with such mature freshmen, and believes that when the pressure of a national title is on the line, Ochoa and Gulbis will be more than prepared. "These two actually want the pressure to be put on them and I know that they can handle it," he said. Ochoa, the top-rated collegiate golfer in the country, also proved last month that she might be ready to take her game to the next level. The Guadalajara, Mexico native tied for seventh at the LPGA Welch's/Circle K Championship, posting rounds of 66-74-71-65 to finish at 12-under-par. She then raised eyebrows once again with a steady performance at the Nabisco Championship in Rancho Mirage, Calif., two weeks ago by tying for 21st with a score of 2-over-par 290 for the event. "Lorena is so mature out there that you'd think that she's a tour veteran," Allen said. The Lady Wildcats missed Ochoa's presence in Hawaii two weeks ago when they competed in the Dr. Thompson Rainbow Wahine Invitational in Hawaii. Its second-place finish to Oklahoma State was enough for Allen to concede that without Ochoa, the team was somewhat vulnerable. Arizona had to add two scores in the 80s throughout the event, and sorely missed the 70.04 stroke average that Ochoa has carried this year. Allen also added that Ochoa's dominance on the course has not been the only asset to her team. "She's a coach's dream because of her positive attitude," he said. "She's got such a great attitude that it becomes contagious, and it just rubs off on people, including her teammates." Gulbis, a.k.a. "Range Rat," as Allen likes to call her, due to the time she spends hitting balls on the range, didn't miss a beat in Hawaii, capturing her second individual title of the season. She posted scores of 71-71-74 (E) to edge out Oklahoma State's Christi Cano by a stroke.
The week aheadCoaches might want hold a disclaimer in front of their teams this week before players tee off in Tempe, Ariz. The warning should read: "This is not the real thing." "The real thing" would be in reference to the Pacific 10 Conference Championships, which are still two weeks away but will be played on the same course with many of the same teams that will be present this week in the PING/ASU Invitational. All 10 Pac-10 teams will be part of the 15-team field that begins play Friday and ends on Sunday. That's not to say that this week's task is any easier than a conference championship tournament, since five top-10 teams will be present. Besides the presence of powerhouses like No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Southern California and No. 4 Stanford, emerging teams such as No. 8 New Mexico State and No. 10 Tulsa will also compete on the 5,938-yard, par-72 Karsten Golf Course. Pac-10 players, however, will be on full alert this week as they make their way through the 18-hole desert-style layout. "Course knowledge is such a huge thing, and for us to go and get four good looks at the course this week is extremely helpful," Allen said.
Duking it outRather than making the trek out west, Duke will compete in the Fourth Annual Bryan National Collegiate in Browns Summit, N.C., to get a taste of competition against some of its Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. The Blue Devils will join a 17-team field, which will include ACC rivals North Carolina, N.C. State and No. 22 Wake Forest, on the Bryan Park Champions Course. No. 6 Tennessee is also scheduled to compete in the April 6-8 event.
A victory, pleaseFinally, Georgia might not have to wait much longer for its first tournament victory of the year. The Bulldogs will compete this weekend at the LSU/Cleveland Classic in Baton Rouge, La. In order to pick up the victory, though, the Bulldogs will be forced to beat Auburn again this week, not to mention host No. 12 Louisiana State. The tournament will also be played from April 6-8, and Duke will "conveniently" be absent from the event. A scheduling tactic by McCorkle? Or did he just finally get lucky? One will never know.
Aaron Levine is a reporter for The Stanford Daily, the student newspaper of Stanford University.
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