May 1, 2006
WACO, Texas - The Baylor women's golf team earned the 13th seed in the NCAA Central Regional to be held May 11-13 and hosted by Texas A&M at The Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas, the NCAA Women's Golf Selection Committee announced Monday.
The program has enjoyed unprecedented success under 12th-year head coach Sylvia Ferdon, as the Bears will be making their seventh straight postseason appearance. Baylor will be looking for its second NCAA Championships berth after advancing for the first time in 2004. The Bears will also be looking to avenge last year's performance at the NCAA Central Regional when they held a share of the lead going into the final round before dropping to 13th.
"It's exciting, we're happy to be in a regional, but it's disappointing that (sophomore) Sian (Reddick) will be out of the lineup," Ferdon said. "Because of her injuries, we looked at her this week and last week and made the decision to send her home (Folkestone, England). But I made a point to get (junior) Sherry (Summers) a lot of playing time this spring, and she's played the course and played in a regional before, so we'll go in with a lot of experience."
Baylor is one of seven Big 12 Conference schools represented in the regionals, tied for the third most with the Atlantic Coast Conference behind the Southeastern Conference (10) and the Pac-10 (9). The Bears will be returning to familiar territory at The Traditions Club, where they played in the Mo-Morial Tournament in March.
"I think it will be an advantage to us having played the course before and having a short drive down," Ferdon said. "Hopefully the third time around will be the charm and we will put up the numbers we need to advance. If we just average what we have all year, we should be in good shape."
All but one of the Baylor starters, junior transfer Allison Martin (Bakersfield, Calif.), also played in the 2005 Mo-Morial at The Traditions Club and the 2005 NCAA Central Regional in Lubbock, Texas.
"We brought (last year's regional) up at the beginning of the year," Ferdon said. "They're mentally tougher and we've worked on playing better in the final round and they've gone out and done it. The only pressure they are going to have is from themselves - they have good swings and put up good scores, so we just have to trust the players and rely on the experience we have."
In addition to Summers and Martin, Baylor will have junior Anna Rehnholm (Karlskrona, Sweden) and seniors Meredith Jones (Eugene, Ore.) and Josefin Svenningsson (Gislaved, Sweden) in the lineup - all three of which played in the 2004 NCAA Championships. Rehnholm has moved into the No. 1 spot in the lineup and made the Big 12 All-Championship Team for the second straight year, while Jones also has a Big 12 All-Championship honor to her credit and Svenningsson has an All-Big 12, Big 12 All-Championship, All-NCAA Central Regional and a top-20 NCAA finish on her resumé.
The top eight teams and two individuals in each of the three 24-team regionals will advance to the 2006 NCAA Women's Golf Championships May 23-26, at The Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio. The East Regional will be held in Bryan Park, N.C., and the West Regional will be held in Las Auburn, Wash.
