THIS WEEK: Freshman Alivia Brown travels to Bradenton, Fla., to compete in the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships, May 22-27…Brown qualified for the national championships after being selected to compete at the NCAA St. George Regional, May 7-9, where she finished sixth…Brown became the first Cougar to qualify for the national championships as an individual…Washington State previously competed in the NCAA Championships in 2003 when the Cougars qualified as a team and finished 23rd, led by All-American Kim Welch.
THE COURSE: The NCAA Championships will take place at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla…the course will play at par 72 with a 6,468-yard track…all 24 teams and 12 individuals will complete 54 holes of stroke play…golfers will play 18 holes each day beginning Friday, May 22 at 7:30 a.m. ET…the top 15 teams, along with the top nine individuals not on an advancing team, will advance for one additional day of stroke play to determine the 72-hole stroke play individual champion…the top eight teams then compete in match play for the team championship, May 26-27.
THE FIELD: The 2015 NCAA Championships’ field will feature 132 competitors…24 teams earned a berth to the tournament, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Baylor, California, Campbell, Duke, LSU, NC State, Northwestern, Purdue, South Carolina, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Tulane, UC Davis, UCLA, UNLV, USC, Virginia, Wake Forest, and Washington…in addition, 12 individuals earned a berth into the championships, including Alivia Brown (Washington State), Michaela Fletcher (Memphis), Isabelle Johansson (Kentucky), Leilanie Kim (Idaho), Meghan MacLaren (FIU), Lena Schaeffner (Coastal Carolina), Bertine Strauss (Texas), Taylor Totland (Furman), Monica Vaughn (Arizona State), Karolina Vlckova (Florida), Emily Williams (Middle Tennessee State), and Anica Yoo (Oregon State).
WHEN BROWN TEES OFF: In opening-round action, Alivia Brown will tee off at 12:55 p.m. ET (9:55 a.m. PT) from the first tee…during the second round, Brown will tee off of the No. 10 tee at 8:25 a.m. ET (5:25 a.m. PT)…in the third round, tee times will be determined based off scores in the first two days of competition.
HEAD COACH KELLI KAMIMURA SAYS: ”Alivia has a very strong mental game. She’s out there competing hard, and she brings this really fun, competitive, athletic mentality. Alivia has a lot of experience in highly competitive events from her junior career. I think the goals for this week are to continue hitting great golf shots, sticking to her game plan, playing one shot at a time, and letting the outcome take care of itself.”
RESULTS & LIVE COVERAGE: Live results will be available during tournament play at golfstat.com…tournament results will be posted at wsucougars.com at the end of each day of competition…the Golf Channel will provide live coverage for the final three days of the championships on May 25, 26, and 27.
LAST TIME AT THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Cougars have one previous appearance in the NCAA Championships…in 2003 Washington State advanced to the national championships in West Lafayette, Ind…WSU was led by All-American Kim Welch, who finished fifth at the Kampen Golf Course…as a team, the Cougars posted a score of 1288 to finish 23rd, three shots ahead of Wisconsin.
LAST TIME ON THE GREEN: Freshman Alivia Brown qualified for the NCAA Championships after earning a berth into the NCAA St. George Regional…Brown fired a three-round 219 (+6) on the Entrada Golf Course at Snow Canyon Country Club to finish in sixth place…Brown’s first and third-round 71s tie for the best single-round score by a Cougar in postseason history.
FRESHMAN PHENOM: A native of Gig Harbor, Wash., freshman Alivia Brown competed in all 11 regular-season tournaments for the Cougars…Brown garnered national recognition when she was selected to compete as an individual at the NCAA St. George Regional Championships, becoming the first freshman in WSU history to be selected as an individual for the postseason…the selection marked the first appearance by the Cougars at the NCAA Regional Championships since 2007…in the first and third rounds, Brown fired even 71s, both of which tied for the best single-round score in WSU postseason history…with a three-round score of 219 in a field that featured 96 golfers, Brown finished in sixth place, the best finish of her career…and earned a berth into the NCAA Division I Championships…Brown became the first Cougar women’s golfer since 2003 to compete in the national championships, when WSU competed as a team, led by All-American Kim Welch…across all 12 competitions, Brown holds a scoring average of 74.14, the lowest by a freshman in WSU history and the third-lowest by any Cougar in school history.
COUGS CARDING HIGH MARKS IN THE CLASSROOM: For the fifth-consecutive semester, the WSU women’s golf team received the Glenn Kranc Academic Award, given to the WSU program with the highest semester GPA…the team boasted a 3.50 GPA for the fall 2014 semester, bringing its average cumulative GPA to 3.47, the highest of WSU’s athletic programs.
KAMIMURA SIGNS ODIORNE FOR 2015-16: Madison Odiorne has signed a National Letter of Intent to play women’s golf at Washington State University, beginning next fall, head coach Kelli Kamimura announced Nov. 12, 2014.
COACHING STAFF: Washington State is led by Head Coach Kelli Kamimura in her fifth season…a native of Burlington, Wash., Kamimura spent six seasons with Pepperdine prior to her arrival at WSU…the Cougars are assisted by WSU alumna Emma Betland in her first season…Betland competed for the Cougars from 2010-13.
