Wake Forest Athletics
Women's Golf Finishes Fall At Landfall Tradition This Weekend
10/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Oct. 22, 2009
WINSTON-SALEM, NC - The No. 18-ranked Wake Forest women's golf team heads to the Landfall Tradition this weekend as the two-time defending champion. The tournament will also serve as the NCAA Fall Preview as the Landfall Country Club is also hosting the NCAA Championship next May.
The Deacons come into the weekend off a solid final two rounds at the Mercedes Benz Championship last weekend. Head coach Dianne Dailey's lineup will feature senior Dolores White, junior Natalie Sheary, sophomore Cheyenne Woods and freshmen Michelle Shin and Stephanie Kim.
This weekend will also be the final tournament of the fall for the Deacs and Dailey knows the importance of a strong showing against a top-notch field.
"This may be the best field we play against all year outside of the NCAAs," said Dailey. "We're looking forward to the opportunity to go up against all of the best teams and this will give us a chance to see where we stack up. It will also show us what we need to work on heading into the winter."
Sheary and Woods have each had tremendous falls thus far, leading the Deacons in each of the first three tournaments. Sheary is averaging 73.0 strokes per round over nine rounds while Woods is just a single shot behind her at 73.1.
In nine rounds this season, Woods has been at par or better in five of them with a pair of 2-under par 70s. She led the team last week at the Mercedes Benz Championship, finishing tied for sixth at 2-over par. Sheary has finished tied for 11th in each of the last two events after leading the team at the season-opening Topy Cup with a sixth place showing.
Shin is currently third on the team with a 74.7 stroke average and is coming off a final round 71 at the Mercedes Benz, which is tied for her lowest round this season. White has averaged 75.8 through six rounds this season with her low round of 73 coming on the second day of the Lady Tar Heel Invitational.
White is also the defending individual champion this week. She came into the tournament last year with a season-low of 76 but went on to shoot rounds of 75-73-70=218 (+2) to claim her first career medalist honors. The 218 finish is still the lowest 54-hole total of her career.
Kim is playing in just her second tournament this fall after finishing tied for 21st at the Topy Cup last month.
Wake, host UNC Wilmington and UNC Chapel Hill are the only schools returning from last year's Landfall Tradition start list. Eight teams - Auburn, Denver, Duke, Georgia, LSU, Pepperdine, Southern Cal and UCLA - make their debut in the popular tournament.
Defending NCAA champion Arizona State, who captured the national title on the same course in 1995, returns to the Dye layout again with another talented cast. Sophomore Carlota Ciganda, a First-Team All-American, has sparked the Sun Devils to a pair of tournament victories already, the season-opening Topy Cup in Tanagura, Japan, and last weekend's Stanford Intercollegiate.
ASU wound up with a 1-over-par 285 to finish 12-under last weekend on the Stanford Golf Course, finishing ahead of UCLA. Southern Cal came in fifth place, but sophomore Jennifer Song won her second consecutive individual title by carding birdies on three of her last four holes for a final-round 67. The U.S. Women's Amateur and Public Links champion finished with an 8-under 205 total, three shots ahead of Ciganda.
Song, who also won the Mason Rudolph title in late September, has recorded four sub-70 rounds in five tries this season.
Overall, this year's impressive LT field has already won 10 tournaments this fall. Moreover, individuals playing in the tournament have accounted for seven championships since the fall season began last month.
Along with ASU, Georgia, Pepperdine and Michigan State have each won two tournaments this fall. The Bulldogs collected the hardware in Duramed Cougar Classic (Sept. 14) and the Eat A Peach Collegiate (Oct. 5). The Waves came in first in the GolfWeek Conference Challenge (Sept. 15) and the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational (Sept. 20). Michigan State took the Mary Fossum Invitational (Sept. 13) and the Tar Heel Invitational (Oct. 11).
Denver captured the Ron Moore Intercollegiate (Sept. 23) and USC took the Mason Rudolph Intercollegiate (Sept. 27).
Song isn't the only competitor with two victories to her credit. Georgia sophomore Marta Silva Zamora won the Duramed Cougar Classic and the Eat A Peach Collegiate, while Purdue junior Maude-Aimee LeBlanc claimed Lady Northern Invitational and the Windy City Collegiate Championship.
In addition, Denver's Stephanie Sherlock was medalist of the Ron Moore Intercollegiate.
The weather forecast for this weekend in Wilmington, NC, looks much more like golf weather compared to the frigid temperatures in Tennessee last weekend. The forecast calls for temperatures in the 70s all weekend with a chance of thunderstorms on Saturday.
Live hole-by-hole scoring of all three rounds will be available through Golfstat.com. Check back to www.WakeForestSports.com for a complete recap after each day.
Players Mentioned
