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The Nebraska women’s golf team will close a strong fall season by competing with the nation’s best teams at the 2006 NGCA Match Play Championships in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 3-5.
In a unique format for collegiate women’s golf, 16 of the best teams in the nation will go head-to-head in dual team play, with one team being crowned an undefeated champion on Sunday.
The tournament begins on Friday at 6:30 a.m. central time with top-seeded and current national No. 1 Georgia taking on the 16th-seeded Huskers.
Nebraska is ranked 41st nationally in the most recent GolfStat head-to-head rankings with an 185-40 record.
The Bulldogs have been nothing short of unbeatable. In fact Georgia enters the tournament with a perfect 225-0 record, including 20 wins over top 25 opponents.
The Huskers will be making their first appearance in the NGCA Match Play, while Georgia will play in the event for the third time. The Bulldogs finished as the runner-up in the tournament in both 2000 and 2003.
"It is really a great honor just to be selected to play in this tournament with the best teams in the country," Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl said. "It is a great opportunity for us to go head-to-head against the best golfers and the best teams in the country in a match play format. It should be an exciting weekend for our players."
Nebraska’s lineup will be led by junior Elli Brown, who is positioning herself as one of the top players in the nation this season. Brown has finished in the top 10 in each of the Huskers’ five fall tournaments, including a tie for seventh at the Derby Invitational last weekend. Brown’s seventh-place showing came against a 17-team tournament field that featured 15 teams that qualified for NCAA Regional play in 2006.
True freshman Kate White is also making a name for herself early in her career and won her first collegiate tournament at the Bronco Invitational on Oct. 10. Senior Chrissie McArdle, senior Andrea Carlson (Dunagan), junior Allison Stewart and freshman JC Stevenson will round out Nebraska’s contingent in Orlando.
Georgia will counter with a lineup that features its top four starters from a year ago, when Coach Todd McCorkle’s team finished fifth nationally. Those starters include Taylor Leon (T16th), Whitney Wade (T29th), Mallory Hetzel (T43rd) and Alina Lee (T64th), who all finished among the top 65 players at the 2006 NCAA Championships.
NGCA Match Play Championships
Host: National Golf Coaches Association/Central Florida Sports Commission
Location: Orlando, Fla.
Course: Eagle Creek Golf Club
Par: 73
Yardage: TBA
#1 Georgia vs. #16 Nebraska, Friday, 6:30 a.m.
Friday, Noon - TBA
Saturday, 8:30 a.m. - TBA
Sunday, 8 a.m. - TBA
Nebraska Golfers at NGCA Match Play
Tournament Field (16 Teams)
- #1 Georgia vs. #16 Nebraska
- #8 Purdue vs. #9 Arkansas
- #4 Vanderbilt vs. #13 SMU
- #5 Wake Forest vs. #12 LSU
- #3 Auburn vs. #14 Alabama
- #6 Arizona vs. #11 Michigan State
- #7 Florida State vs. #10 Florida
- #2 Duke vs. #15 South Carolina
Live Scoring: GolfStat.com
Brown Making Strong Early Bid for All-America Honors
Nebraska junior Elli Brown is making a strong case to be considered among the top players in the nation in 2006-07. The Meridian, Idaho, native has finished in the top 10 individually in each of Nebraska’s first five tournaments to open the year and earned the conference’s first Big 12 Golfer-of-the-Month award in October.
Most recently, Brown finished in a tie for seventh at the 17-team Derby Invitational hosted by Auburn, Oct. 28-29. Brown’s two-round total of 149 included rounds of 77 and 72, just four strokes back of tournament champion Marisa Milligan from Auburn.
Although it was her lowest finish of the season, it came against a 17-team field that included 15 teams that qualified for the 2006 NCAA Championships.
Brown finished in the top five individually in each of NU’s first four tournaments to open 2006, including a career-best tie for second and a career-low 216 at the Bronco Invitational, Oct. 9-10.
She added a fourth-place finish to lead the Huskers to their fourth consecutive Chip-N Club title Sept. 18-19. She added a tie for fifth at the Wildcat Fall Invitational in Lexington, Ky., Sept. 30-Oct. 1, in a 15-team tournament field that included seven squads that earned 2006 NCAA Regional berths.
Brown opened the season by finishing fifth at the Badger Invitational in Verona, Wis. Overall, Brown has produced a team-leading 75.21 stroke average through Nebraska’s first 14 fall rounds.
With five top-10 finishes in 2006-07, Brown owns nine career top-10 finishes at Nebraska and 15 career top-25 showings. She finished 26th at last year’s Big 12 Championships and 79th at the 2006 NCAA Championships.
Last season, Brown’s 76.85 average ranked 19th in the Big 12 Conference, right behind returning teammate Chrissie McArdle.
Brown played in all 40 rounds and posted six top-20 finishes. She played three rounds below par. She shot 71 on four occasions as a sophomore, one stroke shy of her career-best 70 at the Betsy Rawls Invitational in 2005.
Brown Leads Huskers at Derby Invitational
Junior Elli Brown fired an even-par 72 to post her fifth consecutive top-10 showing of the fall season to help Nebraska to a tie for ninth at the Auburn Tiger-Derby Invitational at the University Golf Club on Oct. 29.
Brown’s final round vaulted her 15 spots in the individual standings from a tie for 22nd after Saturday’s first round into a tie for seventh overall.
The Huskers received their best individual round of the tournament from true freshman Kate White on Sunday. The Waukegan, Ill., native bounced back from an opening-round 82 in her first collegiate appearance as the Huskers’ No. 1 player by scorching the 6,310-yard layout of the Auburn University Golf Club for a one-under-par 71. White vaulted from a tie for 72nd to open the day, into a tie for 21st among the 88 competitors in the field.
The low scores from Brown and White allowed Nebraska to produce a second-round 305, to finish the rain-shortened two-day event at 615, after managing an opening-round 310 on Saturday. The Huskers finished in a tie with Birmingham-Southern.
Auburn ran away with the team title by firing the top round of the tournament on Sunday with a three-over par 291, to finish the 36-hole event at 594. Alabama finished 12 strokes back in second place at 606.
White, Brown Lead Huskers to School-Record Effort in Idaho
Kate White tied the school record with an opening-round 67 on her way to her first individual title, and Idaho native Elli Brown added a career-best tournament score to tie for second at the Bronco Invitational in Boise, Oct. 9-10.
White, a true freshman from Waukegan, Ill., finished the 54-hole tournament with a career-low 213, three strokes ahead of Brown’s career-best 216.
True freshman JC Stevenson added a career-best 227 to finish in 13th, one stroke ahead of teammates Chrissie McArdle and Andrea Carlson (Dunagan), who tied for 14th at 228.
The consistently low scores from top to bottom in NU’s lineup allowed the Huskers to eclipse the school record for lowest three-round score. Nebraska’s 884 team total shaved one stroke off the previous mark and it was 45 strokes better than NU’s previous season-low round.
Senior McArdle Proven Performer in Husker Lineup
Chrissie McArdle emerged as a consistent threat through the 2005-06 campaign, producing the second-best stroke average on the team at 76.80 over 40 rounds, including 31 rounds at or below 78. Her stroke average ranked 18th in the Big 12 Conference a year ago.
The Eden Prairie, Minn., native finished in the top 20 in seven tournaments last season, including two top-five finishes. She was also in the starting lineup for all 40 of Nebraska’s rounds.
After a rough start at the Badger Invitational this fall when she tied for 27th with a 239, McArdle bounced back with the top finish of her collegiate career with her second-place showing at the Chip-N Club Invitational Sept. 18-19. McArdle’s 229 (77-75-77) matched Missouri State’s Sally Hinton at the end of regulation, before Hinton prevailed on the second playoff hole.
Although McArdle just missed her first career individual title, she did lead the Huskers to their fourth straight Chip-N Club title.
McArdle shot a career-low round of 70 at the Mountain View Collegiate, helping the Huskers break the 54-hole record with a career-low 215. She surpassed her previous career-best round of 71 shot three times last season, including the second round of the Mountain View Collegiate.
McArdle broke her previous career-low tournament score of 221, which she fired at both the 2003 adidas Fall Classic and the 2004 Edwin Watts/Palmetto.
In addition, McArdle concluded the 2005-06 season with a tie for 33rd (237) at the Big 12 Championships and helped the Huskers earn eighth place at the NCAA Central Regional, placing in a tie for 35th with 231. At the NCAA Championships, McArdle scored a 311 and placed in a tie for 88th.
True Freshmen Making Immediate Contributions
True freshmen Kate White and JC Stevenson are off to strong starts in their Nebraska careers.
White, a native of Waukegan, Ill., has finished in the top 30 in each of her first five career tournaments, including her first career title at the Bronco Invitational. Her win in Boise, Idaho, included a school-record-tying 67 in the opening round.She added an impressive seventh-place showing at the Chip-N Club Invitational Sept. 18-19. Nine of White’s 14 rounds have been 77 or below, including a one-under-par 71 at the Derby Invitational on Oct. 29.
Stevenson, a Grand Island, Neb., native, overcame the rainy, cold and windy conditions at the University Ridge Golf Course in Wisconsin for an even-par 72 on the final day of the tournament to close in a tie for 12th place. She added a 13th-place finish and a career-low 227 at the Bronco Invitational. She also tie for 27th at the Chip-N Club Invitational that included a final-round 75.