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April 27, 2009

AUBURN - The No. 6-ranked Auburn women's golf team received a bid to the NCAA East Region, which will be held at the University of Florida's Mark Bostick Golf Course May 7-9, the NCAA Women's Golf Championship Committee announced Monday. The Tigers receive the Southeastern Conference's automatic bid after winning the SEC Championship on April 19.

The Tigers, ranked No. 6 in the latest GolfWorld Coaches' poll and No. 7 in the latest GolfWeek poll, are coming off a come-from-behind victory at the SEC Championship two weeks ago in Blythewood, S.C. The Tigers came from three strokes down on the final day to win by eight with an 18-over-par 870.

Four Tigers finished in the top 12 at the tournament with All-SEC first team selection Cydney Clanton leading the way in a tie for fourth with a 3-over 216. Freshman Patricia Sanz followed in a tie for sixth at 4-over-par 217 while SEC Golfer of the Year Candace Schepperle made it three Tigers in the top 10 with a tie for 10th at 5-over 218. Freshman Haley Wilson also made the top 12, carding a 6-over-par 219 in her first SEC Championship.

For her efforts in leading the team to the SEC title, head coach Kim Evans was named the SEC's Coach of the Year. Heading into the team's 16th NCAA Regional Championship, Evans is optimistic about her team's chances.

"The East Region is traditionally the toughest region to advance out of, but we are looking forward to the challenge," said Evans. "We just want to get the show on the road. We finally know where we are playing so it is time to start preparing for the golf course and the tournament."

Since the completion of the SEC Championship, Evans said her team had been counting down the days to selection Monday to find out where they were going.

Auburn enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed, following top-seed Virginia. The Tigers are one of 10 teams in the field ranked in the GolfWeek top-30. Others are: No. 5 Virginia, No. 8 Alabama, No. 11 Duke, No. 12 North Carolina, No. 14 Denver, No. 15 Georgia, No. 21 Vanderbilt, No. 26 Tennessee and No. 28 Florida.

Of the 21 teams in the East Regional field, eight are from the SEC. In all, 11 of the 12 SEC teams advanced to a NCAA Regional Championship with Kentucky going to the Central Region and LSU and Arkansas going to the West Regional.

AU has faced all but four of the teams in the regional field and holds a 53-13-1 head-to-head record against them for a .799 winning percentage.

Central Region competition will be held at the Scarlet Golf Course at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, and the West Region will take place at the Arizona State Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz. For a complete list of all teams competing at each regional, please visit www.ncaa.com.

A total of 324 participants have been selected for regional competition. Of these players, 126 will advance to the championships finals.

Eight teams and two individuals will advance from each regional. The championships finals will be held May 19-22 at the Caves Valley Golf Club and will be hosted by Georgetown University.

For live coverage of the East Regional please visit www.golfstat.com or follow daily updates of the Tigers on www.auburntigers.com.

East Regional Teams
Conference automatic qualifiers are indicated in parenthesis next to the institution.

1. Virginia
2. Auburn (Southeastern Conference)
3. Alabama
4. North Carolina
5. Duke
6. Denver (Sun Belt Conference)
7. Tennessee
8. Vanderbilt
9. Georgia
10. Tulane (Conference USA)
11. Florida
12. East Carolina
13. Mississippi
14. South Carolina
15. Furman (Southern Conference)
16. Charleston
17. Florida State
18. Central Florida
19. Coastal Carolina (Big South Conference)
20. Stetson (Atlantic Sun Conference)
21. Jackson State (Southwestern Athletic Conference)

Individuals:
1. Susannah Aboff, Princeton
2. Julia Potter, Missouri
3. Jessica Hollandsworth, Maryland

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