April 24, 2008

2008 Big Ten Women's Golf Championship Release (PDF)

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern looks to take the momentum from its fourth-place finish at last weekend's Lady Buckeye Invitational into the 2008 Big Ten Championships at University Park, Pa. The Wildcats will also be looking to build off its third-place finish at the championship in 2007.

Hosted by Penn State, this year's championship will be 72 holes of competition played on the Nittany Lion Blue Course, a par-72 course measuring 7,228 yards. The opening two rounds will be played Friday, April 25, beginning at 7 a.m. CT with round two getting under way immediately following. Round thre begins at 8 a.m. CT Saturday, April 26, with the final round teeing off at 7 a.m. CT Sunday, April 27.

The fourth-place finish at the Lady Buckeye Invitational was the best showing of the spring for the 'Cats, as senior Katie Trachok (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) posted her second top-10 finish of the season with a 13-over 229 (76-74-79). Junior Jennifer Hong (Windermere, Fla./The First Academy) was right behind at 14-over 230 (75-75-80), followed by senior Brittany Johnston (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) with a 19-over 235 (74-77-84). Senior Justina Yu (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman) and freshmen Rebecca Lederhausen (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central) and Kelsey Lindenschmidt (West Chester, Ohio/Ursuline Academy) will also compete for the Wildcats.

NU enters the championships ranked fifth in the Big Ten, earning a Golfweek/Sagarin rating of 59. Purdue is the top-ranked team in the championship (No. 6), followed by 2007 Big Ten Champion Michigan State (No. 16), Ohio State (No. 40) and Indiana (No. 43). Wisconsin (No. 67) follows the Wildcats at sixth, with Michigan (No. 69), Illinois (No. 83) and Iowa (No. 100) also receiving top-100 rankings. Minnesota (No. 111) and Penn State (115) round out the conference ratings.

The Wildcats placed third at last year's championships as Alice Kim (fifth) and Liliana Alvarez (seventh) both recorded top-10 finishes. Hong finished in a tie for 18th-place while Trachok was in a four-way tie for 33rd-place.

Live scoring of the Big Ten Women's Championship is available at Golfstat.com.