Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowgirl Golfers to Compete at NCAA Championships
May 22, 2006 | Cowgirl Golf
Oklahoma State
at the 25th Anniversary
of the NCAA Division I
Women's Golf Championships
QUICK FACTS
Tuesday-Friday, May 23-26
The Ohio State University Scarlet Course
Columbus, Ohio
72-hole stroke play
par 72 • 6,203 yards
Oklahoma State Golfers
Golfer Class Height Handed Rds-Stks Average Pernilla Lindberg Fr. 5-5 Right 27-2020 74.81 Karin Kinnerud Fr. 5-3 Right 30-2282 76.07 Candie Herrera Jr. 5-5 Right 24-1826 76.08 Mallorie Underwood Jr. 5-7 Right 30-2316 77.20 Amanda Johnson Fr. 5-9 Right 12-955 79.58
Cowgirls to Compete in NCAA Championships
Oklahoma State's Cowgirl Golf team will travel to Columbus, Ohio, to compete in the NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships, hosted by Ohio State University. The tournament will be held at the Scarlet Course on Tuesday through Friday, May 23-26, with practice rounds on Sunday and Monday, May 21-22. Oklahoma State is making its sixth-consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships, just one of eight teams to do so. The NCAA Championships will begin at 8 a.m. Eastern time each day on the par-72, 6,203-yard course. The Cowgirls will tee off on Tuesday at 8:10 a.m. off the first tee and be paired with Arizona State and Georgia. On Wednesday, those same three teams will start off the No. 10 teebox at 12:20 p.m.
Cowgirls Finish Fifth at Central Regional
Entering Saturday's final round of the NCAA Central Regional in 11th place, Oklahoma State's 17th-ranked Cowgirl golf team faced elimination, needing to secure a top-eight spot to advance to the NCAA Championships. OSU did just that, carding a three-over-par 291 and finishing fifth at The Traditions at Texas A&M. The Cowgirls turned in the second-best round of the tournament, bettered only by team champion USC's two-under 286 during the final round. After struggling to a 49-over-par 625 during the first two rounds, OSU's 291 was just the third sub-par round of the weekend. Cowgirl freshman Karin Kinnerud had the highest finish by an OSU golfer, tying for 15th place with a 10-over 226. Freshman Pernilla Lindberg and junior Mallorie Underwood both finished with a 231. Junior Candie Herrera, who recorded the only sub-par round of the tournament for OSU on Saturday with a 71, finished with a 232. Freshman Amanda Johnson, playing in just the fourth tournament of her collegiate career, finished with a 234.
Oklahoma State at the NCAA Championships
The Cowgirls are competing in their sixth-consecutive NCAA Championships as a team, and making their 15th appearance overall. OSU's inaugural appearance was in the first-ever NCAA Women's Golf Championships in 1982, when the Cowgirls finished third. Oklahoma State has 10 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships, and five top-five finishes, including three in the last five years. OSU's best performance at the NCAA Championships came two years ago in Opelika, Ala., when the Cowgirls finished as runner-up to UCLA. OSU has two third-place finishes, which incidentally both occurred on the Stanford Golf Course, first in 1982 and then again in 1989. The Cowgirls have finished fifth in two of the last five tournaments, first in 2001 at the Mission Inn Golf & Tennis Resort, and then at the 2003 Championships in West Lafayette, Ind., at Purdue's Kampen Golf Course. In 2004, Karin Sjödin had the highest finish by a Cowgirl individual at the NCAA Championships as she finished second. It marked just the seventh time in school history that a Cowgirl had finished in the top-10 individually.
Cowgirls Have Recent Success at NCAAs
Oklahoma State is one of just eight teams that have competed in each of the last six NCAA Championships, including this season. The Cowgirls, along with Duke and Purdue, have joined five Pac 10 squads in an elite group that has made each of the past six NCAA Championships. Those five Pac 10 schools are USC, California, Arizona State, UCLA and Stanford. Duke has five top-10 finishes in the last six NCAA Championships and is the only team with more top-10 finishes than Oklahoma State's four.
Cowgirls Garner Postseason Accolades
Oklahoma State freshman Pernilla Lindberg was named the Big 12 Conference's Newcomer of the Year, the third time in four seasons that an OSU Cowgirl has earned that award. Lindberg also joined Cowgirl junior Candie Herrera as a member on the All-Big 12 First Team. Other members of the first-team squad were Texas A&M's Ashley Knoll, Stephanie Wavro of Missouri and Kansas' Amanda Costner. Herrera, Lindberg and Knoll, the Big 12 Player of the Year, were all three unanimous selections. Karin Kinnerud, a freshman for Oklahoma State, was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team. She was joined by Texas' Julia Best, Stephanie Ruiz of Nebraska, and Texas A&M's Brenda Norris and Christi Spedding. This marked the second- consecutive season that Oklahoma State had two players listed on the first team, and the fifth time in 10 years of the Big 12's existence. It also marks the fourth time in five seasons that OSU has placed three golfers on either All-Big 12 team, and the fifth time overall. Two other Cowgirls — senior Kyla Welsh and junior Mallorie Underwood — were named to the Academic All-Big 12 team. It was Underwood's second such honor and Welsh's first.
