Golfers Head Back to NCAA Championships

Tulane athletics staff newwave@tulane.edu
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For the second straight year, the Tulane women's golf team is extending its season to return to the title rounds for the NCAA Championships, which open on Tuesday (May 18) in Wilmington, N.C.

Sophomore Ashley McKenney, who won the individual title at the Conference USA Championship, has helped lead the women's golf team to its second straight NCAA postseason tournament. (Photo from Tulane athletics)

The 27th-ranked Tulane team punched its ticket to the NCAA Championships on May 8 after combining for a 5-over-293 total and posting a sixth-place finish during the final round of the 2010 NCAA East Regional at the Ironwood Golf and Country Club in Greenville, N.C.

One year ago, the Tulane golfers returned to action following a three-year hiatus and advanced all the way to the NCAA Championships. This year, they qualified for regional play after capturing the Conference USA Championship on April 20.

The Green Wave team will make its third appearance at the NCAA Championships and is making back-to-back trips to the title rounds for the first time in school history. Tulane made its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Championships in 2005, earning a 155th-place finish, and returned for the second time in 2009, finishing 20th.

Tulane's women golfers, with the seven other teams from the east regional and the top eight teams from the central and west regions, all advance to the NCAA Championships, May 18–21, at the Country Club of Landfall and hosted by the University of North Carolina–Wilmington.

"This year's trip to the NCAA Championships means as much to us as last year's appearance," Tulane head coach John Thomas Horton said. "We have now proven we are one of the top-24 teams in the nation for the second straight season and that last year's run was not a fluke."

Making back-to-back appearances in the NCAA's final rounds is not an easy task for any team, Horton said. "This is a great reward for our players, and we'll use the experience of last year's championships to prepare for this year's appearance."