May. 1, 2000
ON THE FIRST TEE: The next time Stanford golfers tee it up, they will be playing in the 2000 NCAA Regional tournament. The Cardinal is ranked No. 7 in the April 26 MasterCard Collegiate Golf rankings released by the College Golf Foundation. The Cardinal will be making its eighth consecutive regional appearance and are coming off a fifth place finish at the 1999 west regional in Houston, Tex. Stanford finished with a three-round total of 909, led by former Cardinal Julie Dunn's 221 (72-70-77). Junior All-American Hilary Homeyer finished in a tie for 19th place at 226 (73-76-77), while junior All-American Stephanie Keever placed tied for 46th at 233 (74-78-81) and senior JaeJean Ro concluded the tournament at 238 (78-79-81) for a 59th place tie. Over the span of the last seven regional competitions, Stanford placed second in 1994 (294-302-288--884) and third in 1993 (288-290-283--861), 1995 (302-292-289--883), 1997 (287-285-298--870), 1998 (301-296-298--895).
WEST REGIONAL: The Cardinal will begin NCAA postseason competition in the Far West District of the West Regional at the Karsten Golf Course at Arizona State University May 11-13.. The NCAA West Regional is divided into two districts, the West and Far West, with 11 of the 24 teams and three of the six individual players qualifying for the NCAA Championships final round in Sunriver, Ore. The Far West District is comprised of 13 teams, including top-ranked Arizona, third-ranked Southern California and fourth-ranked Arizona State.
ROOKIE REPORT: Freshman Kim Rowton wrapped up the regular season and the Pac-10 Championship on a role, capturing four top 10 finishes in five tournaments. Her best performance of the season was second place at the Arizona Invitational, where she posted a season-low for a 54 hole tournament with a 212. Rowton shot a season-low round of 68 in the opening round and followed with two rounds of par (72). She followed her second place finish with a third place finish in a dual with San Jose State, an eighth place finish at the Ping/ASU Invitational and a sixth place 222 at the Pac-10 Championships. The only finish out of the top 10 was a tie for 19th place at the 36-hole Peg Barnard California Collegiate at the Stanford Golf Course. Rowton is third on the team with a 75.96 stroke average in 28 rounds and 2,127 strokes.
PAC-10 ALL-CONFERENCE: Juniors Stephanie Keever and Hilary Homeyer were selected second team All-Pac-10 Conference for the 1999-2000 season. This is the third time that both players have been selected to the all-conference team, Keever capturing first team recognition as a sophomore and second team as a freshman, while Homeyer garnered second team honors a year ago after securing first team All-Pac-10 as a freshman. Top-ranked Arizona placed three players on the first team list and were joined by golfers from Arizona State, Southern California and UCLA.
TRANSFER TIDBITS: Junior transfer Salimah Mussani joined the team for the Stanford spring schedule. Mussani spent her previous two collegiate seasons at the University of Texas where she played in 54 rounds of golf, posting a 77.2 stroke average. She made her first appearance in the Cardinal lineup at the Arizona Invitational and finished tied for 66th place after shooting a 231. In the next four events, Mussani finished ninth (SJSU Dual), tied for 59th (Ping/ASU Invitational), tied for 43rd (Peg Barnard), and tied for 17th at the Pac-10 Championships. Mussani competed at the Ping/ASU Invitational as an individual.
STANFORD IN THE RANKINGS: Stanford is present in both the MasterCard College Golf Foundation and Golf World/Sagarin College rankings heading into the postseason. The CGF ranks the Cardinal No. 7, while the Golf World/Sagarin rankings place Stanford at No. 8 with a 74.30 rating. Individually, junior All-American Stephanie Keever is No. 10 in the CGF and No. 15 in the Golf World/Sagarin rankings. Also appearing in the CGF Top 25, is junior All-American Hilary Homeyer at No. 23. Homeyer also appears in the Sagarin rankings at No. 30.
CURTIS CUP MEMBERS: Junior All-Americans Hilary Homeyer and Stephanie Keever were selected as members of the 2000 U.S. Curtis Cup team which is made up of the top amateur players in the country. Homeyer and Keever are part of the eight player squad that will take on a team comprised of amateurs from Ireland and Great Britain. The Stanford duo were selected by the USGA Women's Committee and are two of four collegiate players on the squad.
WAITING THE WINGS: Stanford have gone without the services of junior Jessica Belskis and freshman Marcia Wallis as they continue to redshirt the 1999-2000 season. Belskis, a NCAA academic All-American last season, missed the first half of the season to study in Japan and will return to the lineup next fall. Belskis has a 77.81 stroke average in her two seasons at Stanford, placing a career-high eighth with a 148 at the Bruin Classic her freshman season. Wallis spent her freshman season playing for the Stanford women's soccer team, earning Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors.
CARDINAL CONSISTENCY: Stanford has been a model of consistency during the 1999-2000 season, placing no lower than seventh place in a tournament. The Cardinal has six top 5 finishes in 10 tournaments, consisting of three third places (Edean Ihlanfeldt, SMU/OSU Challenge, Arizona Invitational), a fourth place finish (Peg Barnard) and one second place finish (Pac-10 Championships). Stanford averaged 300.73 strokes per round, with a season-low round of 284 (first round) and 54-hole tournament score of 865 at the Arizona Invitational.
COACH O'CONNOR: Head coach Caroline O'Connor begins her fifth season on The Farm... She led Stanford to six top 5 finishes in 1998-99, including the program's first Pac-10 Championship... The Cardinal finished fifth at the NCAA West Regional before earning a second-consecutive eighth place finish at the NCAA Championships... During the 1996-97 campaign, O'Connor led Stanford to a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, tying the school's best NCAA finish ever... That squad also finished third at the West Region Championship and fourth at the Pac-10 Championships.