City Slickers
Arizona State's Azahara Munoz, USC shine in Albuquerque at the women's NCAA Championship
Munoz broke through in a big way, beating Joh in sudden death.
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There was never a doubt in Azahara Munoz's mind that when her ball was done with its 25-foot dance across the 18th green at the University of New Mexico Championship Course last Friday it was going to find the bottom of the cup. So what if the 20-year-old from Malaga, Spain, had had a rocky relationship with her putter since arriving at Arizona State in the fall of 2005? The two reconciled earlier this spring, Munoz no longer holding the club responsible for her dubious distinction as college golf's queen of the near miss. Instead, the Sun Devil junior made herself accountable.
"I got tired of hitting 17 greens and shooting only one under," said Munoz, explaining how her daily practice sessions now started and finished on the putting green. "If I wanted to improve, I had to make the effort."
When the ball did disappear, only minutes before the setting sun, three seasons full of almosts seemingly vanished with it. After 30 tournaments, 12 top-five finishes and 23 top-10s, Munoz had career win numero uno with a birdie on the first playoff hole of the 26th NCAA Women's Championship.
It was a victory long enough in the making that even Munoz's vanquished foe was sympathetic. "It's about time people noticed how talented a player she is," said UCLA junior Tiffany Joh, whose 12-foot birdie try to extend the playoff came up short after the pair completed 72 holes in one-under 287, two strokes better than Georgia's Garrett Phillips.
Before the playoff began, Munoz, once afraid her English was so poor she wouldn't utter a word during a round, confidently spoke to ASU coach Melissa Luellen on the tee: "I'm going to birdie this hole." In the gloaming, Munoz's putt never veered from its line. "It was in from the moment she hit it," said Luellen.
Conversely, the Southern California women's program was familiar with winning tournaments, having developed a particular penchant for it in the final two months of the 2007-08 season. In their three events prior to nationals -- including the Pac-10 Championship and the NCAA West Regional -- the Trojans won each by an average of more than 17 strokes.
Not surprisingly, then, when the deepest, most balanced squad Andrea Gaston had assembled in her 12 years as USC coach (including her 2003 NCAA title team) held a three-stroke lead over UCLA with 18 holes remaining, it didn't flinch. Paced by a 69 from 2006 NCAA medalist Dewi Claire Schrefeel, the Trojans shot a one-over 289 Friday for a 16-over 1,168 total, six strokes better than their crosstown rivals and 12 ahead of third-place Duke, ending the Blue Devils' bid to be the first school to claim four straight national titles.
"This is really a special team for me," said Gaston moments after being carried off the 18th green by her charges. "I've coached a lot of talented teams and talented individuals. This has been the most fun. They're all together. Their goals are the same. They love and respect each other. And we have a lot of fun."
You could argue there should be a special designation next to the 2008 champions, considering all they had to overcome to earn their trophies on the 6,424-yard, par-72 course. The week in Albuquerque's high desert turned out to be one only Jim Cantore could love. While Tuesday's first round took place in 90-plus-degree heat (with Southern California grabbing a Day 1 lead at nationals for the fifth time in six years), Wednesday brought steady 30-35 mile-per-hour winds, with gusts up to 45 mph. Twice tournament officials stopped play when balls wouldn't stop moving on the greens.
When the second round resumed Thursday morning, temperatures had plummeted into the 50s as storms packed with rain and hail created more problems, pushing the third round's conclusion into Friday. The tournament's sixth delay came in the final round (lightning) with the last threesome on the second hole.
