University of Minnesota Athletics
Puga Ties for 12th at Regional
5/9/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Gopher junior Teresa Puga put together her best round of the weekend with an even par 71 on Saturday, the final day of the 2010 NCAA West Regional. Her 54-hole score of 221 (74-76-71) was good for a tie for 12th place, her ninth top-20 finish of the season.
Puga just missed out on a trip to the NCAA Championships. The top eight teams and two individuals not affiliated with the eight teams will join the players from the other regionals at the NCAA's on May 18-21 at the Country Club of Landfall in Wilmington, North Carolina. Louisiana State's Megan McChrystal with a 218 and Oklahoma's Ellen Mueller with a 219 are the individuals that qualified. Mueller, like Puga, played in the regional as an individual.
Puga proved 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 76.01 and also holds the best spring average of 74.64 established this season and the lowest fall average with a 74.07 in 2008.
This season the Gophers averaged a combined score of 303.8 for a stroke average of 75.95, 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.
Minnesota finished in the top 10 in nine of the team's 10 regular season tournaments, five of which were also top-five finishes. Also, the Gophers established five of the program's top 10 54-hole scores this season, including a season-low 893 in the Kiawah Island Intercollegiate Feb. 21-23 and shot a program-best 72-hole score of 1,208 at the 2010 Big Ten Championships. The team also added seven of the lowest 18-hole rounds in the history of the program, including a season-low round of 289 in April at the Indiana Invitational.
Individually, Minnesota's 2009-10 roster included five players that held a season average under 80. Sam Sommers shot a program-best 72-hole score of 294 at the Big Ten Championships while Puga added a 297 which is tied for second-best on the Gopher list.
Players Mentioned
