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Women’s Golfers to Arizona 2/18/2005 TUCSON – Vanderbilt opens the defense of its 2004 Arizona Wildcat Invitational championship Monday at the Arizona National Golf Club. Fourteen excellent teams, all but two from the west coast, will contend for honors in a unique tournament format. “We are going to play 36 holes Monday and 18 Tuesday,” says Head Coach Martha Richards Freitag. “Normally we play 18 a day over three days so playing in foursomes and riding in carts is something we have actually had to practice.” The tournament marks the start of the spring portion of the collegiate schedule. Freitag says her team made good use of the off-season. “We have had five good weeks of practice. The weather has been helpful and we’ve gotten in some good work. The kids are looking forward to getting started. We always play a challenging schedule, facing the best teams week after week so this tournament is no different.” A year ago the Commodores dominated the event with May Wood winning medalist honors by shooting 209 and the team winning by averaging slightly more than 289 strokes per round. Only sophomores Kristen Svicarovich and Chris Brady return from last year’s team. Vanderbilt will play three freshmen, Liebelei Lawrence, Julie Bartholomew and Helen-Rose Richards. Another freshman, Devon Unkeless, will also travel and compete as an individual. The field: Arizona, Arizona State, Nevada, New Mexico State, Northern Arizona, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Oregon State, Pepperdine, Stanford, Tennessee, UCLA, UNLV, Vanderbilt. |
