University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Prep for Big Ten's at Lady Buckeye
4/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Lady Buckeye Invitational: The 30th Annual Lady Buckeye Invitational is the tournament of the weekend for the Gophers but the team will see eight of the other 10 teams in the Big Ten Conference as the calendar inches closer to the Big Ten Championships next weekend in Madison. Purdue, the eighth ranked team in the nation, and Michigan, ranked 64th, are the only Big Ten teams that are not in the field.
The field will play 36 holes on Saturday and the final 18 on Sunday. Play on both days will begin with a 7:30 a.m. shotgun start. Each team's lineup will consist of six players with the four top scores contributing to the team score. Live scoring and results can be found at www.golfstat.com.
The tournament field includes (Golfweek Ranking): Illinois (71), Indiana (58), Iowa (128), Iowa State (56), Kent State (30), Michigan State (10), Minnesota (57), Northwestern (38), Ohio State (21), Penn State (137), Wisconsin (61), Youngstown (170).
The Gophers: Minnesota's lineup will consist of senior Christine Herzog, juniors Michele Edlin, Mary Narzisi, Teresa Puga and Samantha Sommers and true freshman Jackie Shepherd. Edlin and Puga are the only Gopher players to appear in all of the team's tournaments.
Puga at It Again: Junior Teresa Puga continues to prove that she is one of the best, if not the best, player to ever tee-it-up for the Maroon & Gold. She already holds the best career stroke average mark in the history of the program at 76.08, thanks to a stellar sophomore season and an even better junior campaign.
Puga heads in to the Lady Buckeye Invite with a spring average of 74.13, which is currently the best in the history of the program. She also holds the best fall season average (74.07 in 2008) and is well on her way to finish with the best season average in program history. She currently sits at 74.81 for the season.
Career Season in the Making: The Gophers established many records individually and as a team last season that may be broken again. Statistically, Minnesota has averaged a combined score of 302.2 this season for a stroke average of 75.55, bettering last season's averages of 311.4 and 77.85, respectively, for the lowest season averages in school history. Prior to last season, the previous low was established by the 1987-88 team with a season average 77.97.
As a team, the Gophers have finished in the top 10 in seven of the team's nine regular season tournaments thus far this season, five of which were also top-five finishes. Individually, Minnesota's roster includes six players that hold season averages under 80.
Last Time Out: After a slow start to the Indiana University Invitational during the first two rounds, the Gophers shot the low team round of the tournament on Sunday to finish alone in fourth place. Minnesota (310-297-289--896) finished two strokes behind Iowa State and ten strokes behind host Indiana, who won the tournament with a three-round score of 888. The Hoosiers concluded the invitational with two consecutive rounds of 291.
The Gophers were paced over the weekend by two top ten individual finishes. Junior Samantha Sommers (75-74-73--222) and junior Teresa Puga (77-73-72--222) ended up in a tie for eighth place after Sunday's final round. Senior Christine Herzog (81-78-71--230) shot a final round 71, the low round of the tournament for the Gophers. She finished in a tie for 33rd.
Up Next: Next up for the Gophers is the 2010 Big Ten Championships April 23-25 at University Ridge Golf Course in Madison, Wis. The University of Wisconsin will serve as the host. Minnesota finished 10th last year while the entire conference will be trying to dethrone the Purdue Boilermakers, who have won three of the last four championships (2006, 2008, 2009).
Players Mentioned
