second round of Invitational
By Shane Bacon
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
The Arizona women's golf team moved up six spots in yesterday's second round of the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational.
Entering tomorrow's final round in Austin, Texas, the team finds itself in a tie for sixth place, nine shots out of the top five.
Head coach Greg Allen said even with the team's minor improvement from the first to second round, his players are still doing things that have haunted them throughout the spring season.
"We are still making double bogeys," Allen said. "Cassandra (Kirkland) had two and Lani (Elston) had two today."
He said the troubles haven't entirely been the players' fault, however, attributing some of the difficulties to a continued rainstorm days before the tournament began.
"They have had a lot of rain recently, so the golf course is not in good shape," Allen said. "A lot of thin lies, a lot of hardpan, and the greens are inconsistent due to all the rain. Nobody has figured out how to play shots off of it."
After entering the day in second place, Kirkland shot an 80 to fall to sixth, five shots behind leader Chris Brady of Vanderbilt.
The University of Texas has continued its solid play as the host team. The Longhorn team stands alone at the top of the leader board and boasts three players in the top 12.
With the Wildcats 18 shots back of the Longhorns, Allen said he hopes the team can improve today.
"If we come out (today) and put something decent together and get into the top five, it will give the team some confidence," he said.
Arizona has been without its top player this week. Sophomore Erica Blasberg is preparing to take part in her first LPGA major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, on a sponsor's exemption.
Allen said it is a good thing for the team because it allows someone else to be the top Wildcat finisher, a spot Blasberg has occupied for the past two years.
"It will be good for Lani and Cassandra to have a chance to be the low score," Allen said.
Allen said that he is going to lean on one of the greatest golf teachers in the history of golf to get the Wildcats through the final round this morning.
"Being in the hometown of Harvey Penick, we're just going to go out and take dead aim," he said.
From the Bunker
ð Coach Allen took his squad to downtown Austin on Monday to watch the Wildcats women's basketball squad compete in the NCAA tournament.
ð Southern Methodist University had two holes-in-one on Tuesday, one by Laura Cross on the 12th hole and one by Erin Simmons on the 7th.