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Cavaliers Set to Start NCAA Championship Play
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Charlottesville, VA The Virginia women’s golf team begins play in the 2009 NCAA Championships Tuesday at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md. The 72-hole tournament runs through Friday at the 6,443-yard, par-72 course. Virginia enters the championships ranked No. 3 in the Golfstat standings and No. 6 by Golfweek. This is the third NCAA appearance in the UVa program’s six-year history.
The Cavaliers earned a berth in the 24-team field by finishing four at the NCAA East Regional at Florida. Virginia was the number-one seed at the regional. The field for this year’s tournament includes: Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Chattanooga, Denver, Duke, Georgia, LSU, Michigan State, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, Purdue, Southern California, Tennessee, TCU, Texas, Tulane, UC-Irvine, UCLA, Virginia and Wake Forest.
Virginia will begin play in the first round at 12:50 a.m. from the 10th tee and will be paired with TCU and Oklahoma State, the fourth-place finishers from the Central and West Regional sites. Those same teams will start their second round at 8:20 a.m. Wednesday from the first tee. The third and fourth round pairings will be based on results following the first 36 holes of play.
Live scoring will be online at Golfstat.com. During the final rounds on Thursday and Friday the NCAA will provide a live webcast of holes 16, 17 and 18. For ticket information, call (202) 784-4979.
The Virginia Lineup
Joy Kim So. Duluth, Ga. 76.79
Lene Krog Sr. Lier, Norway 75.41
Whitney Neuhauser Jr. Barboursville, Va. 72.93
Calle Nielson So. Nashville, Tenn. 73.52
Kristen Simpson Sr. Norfolk, Va. 76.57
NCAA History
This year’s appearance marks the third time in Virginia’s six-year-old program’s history the team has advanced to the NCAA Championships. The other appearances came in 2005 and 2008. Last year the team finished 12th overall (1215), led by Lene Krog’s 28th-place finish (299). In the Cavaliers’ first NCAA appearance, current LPGA professional Leah Wigger finished second overall at the event held at the Sun River Resort in Sun River, Ore. She shot 3-over 287 including a 69 during the final round. The Cavaliers were 13th overall.
Last Year’s NCAA
Virginia placed 12th at the 2008 NCAA Championships held at the University of New Mexico Championship Course. The Cavaliers shot 1215. USC took the team title with a score of 1168 while UCLA was second at 1174. Virginia had rounds of 293, 317, 301 and 301 in the windy conditions. Lene Krog led UVa with a 28th place finish at 299. Jennie Arseneault was 34th at 300, Joy Kim was 80th at 309, Calle Nielson was 84th at 310 and Whitney Neuhauser was 101st at 317. Arizona State’s Azahara Munoz shot 287 and won a playoff to claim medalist honors.
Regional Recap
The No. 1 seed at the NCAA East Regional, Virginia finished fourth at 34-over 874. Denver finished first at 862. Whitney Neuhauser led the Cavaliers with an eighth-place showing at 6-over 216. Calle Nielson was 11th at 217, Lene Krog was 40th at 223, Joy Kim was 53rd at 225 and Kristen Simpson was 61st at 228. UVa had rounds of 290, 297 and 287.
Caves Valley Rewind
Virginia finished third in the 15-team field at the Fall Preview held at Caves Valley in September. Ranked No. 14 at the time, the Cavaliers had rounds of 289, 294 and 300 for a 54-hole total of 883. UVa was three shots behind second-place USC (defending NCAA Champions) and trailed tournament champion Arizona State by 11 strokes. Virginia was led by senior Jennie Arseneault who was seventh overall at 1-over 217. Arseneault is not in the Cavalier lineup for the NCAA Championships. Three Cavaliers tied for 21st place at 7-over 223. That group included Joy Kim, Whitney Neuhauser and Calle Nielson. Kristen Simpson was 44th overall at 233. Neuhauser’s 54-hole score was the lowest of her career at that time.
All-ACC Honors
The Virginia women’s golf team added another first for the six-year-old program when the Atlantic Coast Conference announced its All-ACC team. For the first time in UVa history, three Cavaliers earned all-conference honors. That group includes senior Jennie Arseneault, junior Whitney Neuhauser and sophomore Calle Nielson. Arseneault and Nielson picked up the honor for the second time in their careers. Nielson repeats from the 2008 squad while Arseneault earned all-league accolades as a sophomore in 2007. They are the only UVa golfers, except current LPGA tour member Leah Wigger, to earn All-ACC honors in multiple seasons.