April 29, 2013
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky women’s golf team was selected to the 2013 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship for the 18th time in program history Monday night. The Wildcats made the field of 72 for the third straight season and will compete in the East Regional at the Auburn University Club in Auburn, Ala., May 9-11.
“We are very excited about our regional selection of heading to Auburn,” head coach Golda Johansson Borst said. “We played the SEC Championship there in 2011 and feel like the course sets up really well for us. Now that we know where we are going we can really start to focus our attention on preparing for this golf course.”
The 24-team regional features six Southeastern Conference teams, including 2013 SEC Champion and defending national champion Alabama. Arkansas, Auburn, Ole Miss and Tennessee will also represent the league in the East Regional. Along with Alabama, the field boasts 11 conference champions, including Oklahoma State, Tulane, Notre Dame, Northwestern, FIU, East Tennessee State, Tennessee-Chattanooga, James Madison, Eastern Kentucky and Alabama State. The remainder of the field consists of UCLA, North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Texas State, Central Florida, Penn State and East Carolina.
UK is coming off one of its best performances in school history, finishing tied for fifth at the 2013 SEC Championships. It was the Wildcats best showing at the conference tournament in 20 years as the Cats were led by freshman Sarah Harris, who recorded a career-best finish, placing second individually at 9-over-par. Junior Liz Breed as also impressive for UK, charted a career-high finish as well, tying for sixth place at 11-over-par.
The NCAA Women’s Golf Championship is made up of three regionals that each consist of 24 teams and six individuals. The two other 2013 regional sites include the Central Regional at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Okla., and the West Regional at the Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, Calif.
The three regional sites are preliminary rounds of the NCAA Championship. Eight teams and two individuals will advance from each regional to participate in the championship’s finals at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga., May 21-24.
This marks the third postseason appearance for Kentucky under the direction of Borst, placing 17th in the 2012 Central Regional and 20th in the 2011 East Regional.
For more information on the University of Kentucky women’s golf team please visit UKathletics.com.
Teams and individual seeds are listed below. Conference automatic qualifiers are indicated in a parenthesis.
2013 NCAA Championship – East Regional
May 9-11, Auburn, Ala.
Auburn University Club
Teams:
1. Alabama (SEC)
2. Arkansas
3. UCLA
4. North Carolina
5. Virginia
6. Oklahoma State (Big 12)
7. Tulane (Conference USA)
8. Texas
9. Notre Dame (Big East)
10. Northwestern (Big Ten)
11. Tennessee
12. Kentucky
13. Texas State
14. Auburn
15. Central Florida
16. Penn State
17. East Carolina
18. FIU (Sun Belt)
19. Ole Miss
20. East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun)
21. Tennessee-Chattanooga (Southern Conference)
22. James Madison (Colonial Athletic Association)
23. Eastern Kentucky (Ohio Valley)
24. Alabama State (Southwestern Athletic)
Individuals:
1. Natalie Wille, Augusta State
2. Kelly Shon, Princeton
3. Casey Kennedy, Augusta State
4. Isabel Southard, Boston College
5. Shu-Yin Liu, Tulsa
6. Kristina Merkle, Tulsa
