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This Week's Syllabus: Nov. 4-10

November 04, 2010

__FAB FIVE

MEN

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__1. Oklahoma State __(Last week: 1)

I'm wondering if I've under-appreciated how solid a career Kevin Tway has had at OSU. Currently has a 72.94 career average with a 72.33 clip in his junior and senior years. His father, Bob, had a 72.32 career average when he played in the late 1970s/early 1980s and is considered one of the school's all-time best. For Kevin to catch Pops, however, he's going to have to shoot a 69.48 average over the final nine events of his career as a Cowboy.

Next event: Fall season over

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2. Alabama (2)

I did a double take when I noticed that despite the impressive play of the Crimson Tide this fall, with key contributions from freshmen Bobby Wyatt and Cody Whitsett along with junior Bud Cauley, the best any player on__Jay Seawell__'s squad is on the Golfstat Cup ranking is 37th (that's Wyatt).

Next event: Fall season over

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3. Florida (3)

The Gators showed they're at least four players deep this fall with Bank Vongvanij,Tyler McCumber,Andres Echavarria and Philip Choi having stroke averages of 72.33 or lower. If Buddy Alexander can find a consistent fifth man, his squad might actually be the class of the SEC if not the country.

Next event: Fall season over

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4. Georgia Tech (4)

Four days after wiping the field at the U.S. Collegiate to close out their fall schedule, the Yellow Jackets were helping run a clinic for the First Tee of Atlanta. More than 100 young people attended with players from other area schools also participating. Nice to see college golfers appreciate the meaning of giving back.

Next event: Fall season over

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5. Iowa(NR)

Fourth win in five fall starts comes in the rain-shortened Royal Oaks Intercollegiate. Quibble about the Hawkeyes' schedule all you want, but they have three players (Vince India,Chris Brant and Brad Hofinger whose worst finish in 15 starts between them is a T-20). Probably no team in the country is more disappointed that winter break is coming then the guys in Iowa City.

Next event: Fall season over

WOMEN

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1. Alabama (1)

A victory this weekend in Palo Alto would give the Crimson Tide three wins thus far in 2010-11, the most the team has had in any single season since 1986-87 when Alabama won four times. Meanwhile three golfers—Brooke Pancake (69.67), Camilla Lennarth (69.56) and Jennifer Kirby—(71.44) all are on pace to break the school's low single-season stroke average (72.59)

Next event: Pac-10/SEC Challenge, Stanford GC, Palo Alto, Calif., Nov. 5-7

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2. LSU (2)

So who leads the Tigers in first-round stroke average? If you answered Megan McChrystal, you're wrong. She has a 69.0 average to start tournaments, but junior__Tessa Teachman__ has a 68.5 opening-round mark.

Next event: Pac-10/SEC Challenge, Stanford GC, Palo Alto, Calif., Nov. 5-7

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3. Purdue (3)

It's amazing how different the Boilermakers results from the NCAA Fall Preview are compared to the rest of their fall season. For Numa Gulyanamitta,Laura Gonzalez-Escallon and Maude-Aimee LeBlanc along, their T-30, 41st and T-67 finishes, added an average of .88 shots to their individual fall stroke averages NG: 71.88 with the Preview; 71.33 without; LGE: 71.78/70.67; MAL: 72.92/71.89).

Next event: Fall season over

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4. UCLA (4)

Why do I get a feeling Stephanie Kono is ready to break out this weekend? Maybe I'm jinxing her, but she's been so steady this fall (no finish worse than T-15) without having a breakout performance. Don't be surprised if she contends at Stanford.

Next event: Pac-10/SEC Challenge, Stanford GC, Palo Alto, Calif., Nov. 5-7

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5. USC (5)

Without a victory this fall, the Trojans also are due this weekend. Seeing from afar UCLA claim its first victory of the season might be motivation for USC as its fall schedule comes to an end.

Next event: Pac-10/SEC Challenge, Stanford GC, Palo Alto, Calif., Nov. 5-7

__STAT OF THE WEEK

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324-2

Individual head-to-head record of Yale freshman Seo Hee Moon during the fall season. The native of Mukilteo, Wash., (right) won four of her five starts, with a third-place finish in the remaining tournament. She finished the fall with a 71.62 average and twice made hole-in-ones in competition (Oct. 17 during the Harvard Invitational at The International GC in Bolton, Mass., and Oct. 23 during the Sacred Heart Invitational at Great River GC in Milford, Conn.)

Tournament                                  Finish       Scores

Princeton Women's Invitational      1- 64         74-68-71—213

Yale Women's Fall Intercollegiate  1- 73         73-70-67—210

Nittany Lion Women's Invitational  3- 94         72-74-74—220

The Harvard Invitational                 1- 39         74-66—140

Sacred Heart Fall Classic               1- 61         75-73—148

__RANDOM THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

If I'm 2009 NCAA champion__Matt Hill, who recently failed to advance out of the first stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School last weekend, I take some solace in the fact that 2007 champ Jamie Lovemark and 2008 champ Kevin Chappell both earned PGA Tour cards off the Nationwide Tour money list last weekend. Both those guys had to grind it out a few years before getting to the bigs. Your day will come, Matt. Hang in there. __

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

__* I've been accused by a few in some recent e-mails that I haven't given enough love to the UCLA men's program. The Bruins have played twice this fall, finishing second at the NCAA Preview and the U.S. Collegiate. In both events, the Bruins trailed only the team that hosted the event on its home course (Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech). In no way have I meant any disrespect to the team by not picking them in my Fab Five at any point this fall; I guess I've just wanted to see a little more of their "body of work" in order to truly assess how good they are.

It's why I've been anxiously awaiting the upcoming Gifford Collegiate Championship for a couple of weeks now. The Bruins will face a quality field (see tournament preview below) and the play six, count five format will help demonstrate just how deep coach Derek Freeman's squad really is.

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TOURNAMENT PREVIEWS

____MEN

Stetson Invitational__

Victoria Hills GC, Deland, Fla.

Nov. 8-9

Host: Stetson

Field: Bethune-Cookman, Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville State, Lipscomb, Murray State, Stetson, USC Upstate

Defending champion: Florida Gulf Coast (13-under 851) by 23 strokes over Florida Atlantic; Florida Gulf Coast's Patrick Williams (six-under 210) by one stroke over three players

Skinny: Florida Gulf Coast returns after setting the tournament's 54-hole scoring mark in 2009.

The Gifford Collegiate Championship

CordeValle GC, San Martin, Calif.

Nov. 8-10

Host: UCLA

Field: Arizona, Augusta State, Lamar, Long Beach State, Northwestern, Oregon, Oklahoma, San Diego, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington

Defending champion: Stanford (24-under 1,056) by three strokes over Oklahoma State; Oklahoma State's Peter Uihlein (14-under 202) by five strokes over Stanford's Sihwan Kim

Skinny: Tournament remains one of the few that is a six play/count five format. Two past champions are in expected to be in the field: 2007 co-champs Henrik Norlander of Augusta State and Sihwan Kim of Stanford.

__WOMEN

Pac-10/SEC Challenge__

(For live scoring, click here to link to Golfstat)

Stanford GC, Stanford, Calif.

Nov. 5-7

Host: Stanford

Field: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Auburn, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Oregon, Oregon State, South Carolina, Stanford, Tennessee, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, Washington, Washington State

Defending champion: New event

Skinny: Almost two years in the planning, the event pitting arguably the top two conferences, top to bottom, in the country includes 14 of the top 25 teams in the latest Golf World/NGCA coaches' poll. Event will also have a tournament within a tournament as the low four scores for each conference will be added to create an aggregate score that will determine which is the "better" conference.

Holiday Inn Express/Hatter Invitational

Victoria Hills GC, Deland, Fla.

Nov. 7-8

Host: Stetson

Field: Bethune-Cookman, Daytona State, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville State, Lipscomb, McNeese State, Stetson, USC Upstate

Defending champion: Stetson (40-over 904) by one stroke over Daytona State; Stetson's Alex Buelow (two-over 218) by one stroke over Bethune-Cookman's Emma Tayler

Skinny: Victoria Hills will also be hosting the Atlantic Sun Women's Championship next April.