The Loop

Campus review, Nov. 2

November 02, 2006

__GOLF WORLD Players of the Week

Week of  Oct. 23-29

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Jamie Lovemark, Southern California

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__WOMEN

Marisa Milligan, Auburn__

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__THE FAB FIVE

My look at the top five teams in the country right now

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1. Alabama—For the first time in school history, the Crimson Tide are tops in all four major polls (Golf World, Golfweek/Sagarin, GCAA/Bridgestone, Golfstat).

__2. Oklahoma State __—Who needs Pablo Martin and Jonathan Moore? The Cowboys showed their depth with a victory at the Callaway Collegiate Match Play.

3. UCLA—The Bruins get a bit of a pass for their T-7 performance at the Match Play. Expect them to bounce back as they host the CordeValle Collegiate (see below).

4. Florida—For the second time in four seasons the Gators record top-five finishes in each of their fall starts.

5. Stanford—The Cardinal’s 15-under total at last month’s Prestige was their fourth best showing in school history.

__WOMEN

2. Duke—First time the Blue Devils aren’t the No. 1 seed when playing in the Hooters Collegiate Match Play Championship.

3. Arizona State—The Sun Devils, second to Oklahoma State at this week's Las Vegas Founders Collegiate Showdown, are getting their tee shots in the fairway nearly 80 percent of the time while hitting greens in regulation at an almost 67-percent clip.

4. Vanderbilt—Sophomore Jacqui Concolino (three top-10s this fall; worst finish: T-11) could be the most underrated women’s golfer in the country.

__5. Auburn __—The Tigers withstood tough weather at their home event, never letting challengers get a real chance to steal away the Derby Invitational title.

__STAT OF THE WEEK

15__

Worst individual finish by a Tulsa men’s golfer (junior Ryan Henry) during this past weekend’s Landfall Tradition outside of Wilmington, N.C. Junior Mitch Cohlmia and freshman Nicolas Geyger shared medalist honors while junior Brett Myers and junior Sam Korbe had top-five showings. Not surprisingly, the Golden Hurricane managed to win the team title—by 26 shots—giving the school back-to-back victories for the first time since the spring 1998.

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WHAT TO WATCH FOR

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The Longhorns might have gotten their breakthrough victory earlier if not for a scorecard error at last month’s Jerry Pate National Collegiate (freshman standout Lance Lopez signed for the wrong number, forcing Texas to drop his 66 in favor of a 73; the Longhorns finished third overall, nine shots back of winner Alabama). Fields said the team didn’t dwell on the mishap, had its best qualifier in five years prior to the Isleworth tournament and then rode the momentum to Orlando. In addition to Lopez (72.13 stroke average), seniors Farren Keenan (72.5) and Jhonattan Vegas (71.83) have had solid falls, as has Matt Bortis (71.83), a transfer from Arkansas.

“I think that [the last few seasons] we had kind of a selfish attitude that persisted among several players that was kind of infectious and just precluded us from crating the kind of atmosphere you’d want around your golf team,” Fields said. “Without dwelling on that too much, I’m just thankful being where I am right now and with the guys that I’m coaching right now. There is a lot of good things that are about to happen with this program.”

Meanwhile, the Virginia women might have needed a tiebreaker to claim victory after being caught by Michigan State in the final round of the Landfall Tradition, but coach Jan Mann will take it considering it means the Cavaliers finally have that historic first win in program history out of the way. In three-and-a-half years since her team's debut, Mann has built her team into a national power, but she needed this group to actually finish off the job and take home some hardware if her players were to have complete confidence they could compete with the best squads in the country.

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Even better is that they hung on despite a poor start in the final round at the Nicklaus Course at the CC of Landfall in Wilmington, N.C. Had UVa let it slip away, it would have been a long fall in Charlottesville.


TOURAMENT TO WATCH

CordeValle Collegiate

Nov. 6-7

CordeValle CC, San Martin, Calif. (For live scoring, click here)

Field: Arizona, Arkansas, Augusta State, California, Coastal Carolina, Lamar, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Pepperdine, Santa Clara, South Carolina, Stanford, TCU, UCLA, USC, Washington

Defending champion: UCLA (15-under 849); Michael Wilson, California (10-under 206)

Skinny: In the event’s debut last fall, UCLA’s Erik Flores had his coming out party as the then freshman made five birdies on the inward nine en route to a final-round 68 to help the Bruins capture the team title by six shots over Northwestern.