Sept. 16, 2009
Up Next: Branch Law Firm / Dick McGuire Invitational
When: Saturday (36 holes) and Sunday (18 holes)
Where: UNM Championship Course
Live Stats: GolfStat.com
The University of New Mexico women’s golf team continues its busy week to start the 2009-10 season. The Lobos look to defend their team title at the Branch Law Firm / Dick McGuire Invitational Saturday and Sunday at the UNM Championship Golf Course. Live stats will be available at GolfStat.com. UNM begins the season ranked No. 21 by Golfweek and 25th in the Golf World Coaches’ poll.
McGUIRE COMPETITORS – The 18-team field includes UNM, Arkansas, UC Davis, UC Irvine, Colorado, Colorado State, Indiana, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pepperdine, San Diego State, San Francisco, Texas A&M, TCU, UNLV, UTEP and Wyoming.
Six teams are ranked in Golfweek’s preseason top-30 poll: Pepperdine, winner of the McGuire in 2005, is the highest ranked team in the field at No. 12, followed by UNLV (18), New Mexico (21), TCU (22), Arkansas (23) and Texas A&M (29).
LOBO LINEUP – Head coach Jill Trujillo will send out seniors Britney Choy and Jodi Ewart, sophomores Rebecca Hellbom and Sarah Salvo and freshman Bethany Buchner. Junior Jordan Kennon and sophomore Erin Miller will play as individuals.
McGUIRE HISTORY – The 2009 season marks the 30th anniversary of the Dick McGuire Invitational. From its beginning in 1979, the McGuire annually showcases the best that women’s college golf has to offer.
The origin of the McGuire dates back much earlier than 1979. From 1956 to 1978 the top women’s teams in the nation competed with men’s teams at the William H. Tucker Invitational. The combined tournament each fall was the premier college golf event of its time. This event grew in such magnitude for both the men and the women that each side needed its own separate tournament.
So, in 1979 the women’s field branched off to the McGuire Invitational, while the men still play the Tucker. Both tournaments remain staples on the respective schedules of all the top college golf programs in the country today.
In the 29 previous tournaments, the team champion from the McGuire has gone on to capture the NCAA Division I Golf Championship seven times. Branch Law Firm in Albuquerque became the title tournament sponsor of the Dick McGuire Invitational in 2003-04.
THE LOBOS AND THE McGUIRE – New Mexico will be shooting for its 8th Dick McGuire championship, and its 5th in the past eight years. The Lobos became the first school in McGuire history to win three straight titles from 2001-03. They also won last year. Five Lobos have captured the individual title: Pat Park twice in 1962 and `63; Kristi Albers in 1984; Tracy May in 1994; Kailin Downs in 2003 and Jodi Ewart in 2008.
2008 McGUIRE REVIEW: LOBOS, EWART PREVAIL – Back and forth they went, but in the end it was New Mexico outlasting Pepperdine to come away with the team title at the 29th Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational.
Tied at the start of the day, the 19th-ranked Lobos edged No. 8 Pepperdine by four shots with solid play down the stretch. UNM shot a final round 287 – 5-under and its lowest of the three rounds played – and was the only team under par in the 16-team field at 872.
It was a sweep for New Mexico as junior Jodi Ewart took the individual title. Trailing UNLV’s Natasha Krishna by one shot with three holes to play, Ewart birdied the par-4 16th while Krishna took a bogey at her next-to-last hole.
Ewart shot a 1-under 72 for a 54-hole total of 6-under 213. While Ewart was her usual steady self, it was a pair of Swedes that pushed UNM to its seventh McGuire title overall and fourth in the past seven tournaments.
Playing in her first collegiate tournament, freshman Rebecca Hellbom fired a 3-under 70 to finish in a tie for 10th at 2-over 221. Hellbom – a native of Vasteras, Sweden, made consecutive birdies at 16 and 17 to provide the Lobos with some breathing room at the top.
Mikaela Backstedt’s game did not look good early. A triple-bogey 7 on the par-4 6th placed the Lobo senior at 5-over after the first four holes. However, she played the remaining 14 holes in 5-under to finish the round at even-par 73. Backstedt, a native of Ljunghusen, Sweden, birdied four of the last six holes.
Junior Britney Choy improved each round. After an opening-day 75, Choy shot 73 and a 1-under 72 in the final round to finish in a tie for 8th at 1-over 220.
New Mexico led by three shots midway through the front side. Pepperdine got hot at the turn, though, taking a 1-shot advantage when four golfers combined to make seven birdies over a four-hole stretch. Jessica Wallace led the Waves’ charge with birdies at Nos. 9, 11 and 12.
UNM answered as Ewart and Choy each birdied the par-3 12th to regain the lead by a stroke.
The Lobos won both the McGuire team and individual titles for the fourth time. Pat Park and UNM won it all in 1962-63 while Kailin Downs took medalist honors in 2003.
HEAD COACH Jill Trujillo – A 1990 UNM graduate and women’s golf letterwinner from 1987-90, Jill Trujillo is in her third season in charge of the women’s golf program. Trujillo has led New Mexico to four team titles, including consecutive Mountain West Conference championships in 2008 and `09. She was named the 2007-08 MWC Coach of the Year.
Trujillo was interim head coach when UNM advanced to the NCAA Championships in 2007 at Daytona Beach. The Lobos finished 22nd at the Championships in 2007 and 19th in 2009.
TRUJILLO HONORED BY LPGA – The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Teaching and Club Professional (T&CP) membership named UNM head coach Jill Trujillo the 2009 Central Region Coach of the Year. She also won the award in 2007. The LPGA T&CP membership’s five sections – Central, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast and Western – annually select winners in each of the three categories: Teacher, Professional and Coach.
Among the sectional winners in each category, the LPGA T&CP Executive Committee selects the overall national award winner for each category, which will be announced in the coming weeks.
RAM FALL CLASSIC RECAP – The 25th-ranked Lobos finished in a tie for third at the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic played in Fort Collins, Colo. The Lobos and Louisville finished at 3-over 867 on the par-72, 6,259-yard Ptarmigan Country Club course. Idaho claimed the team title at 859, followed by host Colorado State at 863.
Lobo senior Jodi Ewart tied her career-low round with a 4-under 68 to finish in second place at 7-under 209, three shots behind Louisville’s Laura Anderson. Ewart’s 209 total (72-69-68) is a career best. Sophomore Rebecca Hellbom shot 74 today and tied for 11th at 1-under 215 (68-73-74). Senior Britney Choy tied for 14th at 217 (71-75-70). Choy’s final-round 70 ties a career best.
Sophomore Sarah Salvo finished at 10-over 226 (74-75-77), tying for 49th, while freshman Bethany Buchner tied for 69th at 19-over 235 (77-77-81). Junior Jordan Kennon, competing as an individual, tied for 77th at 238 (78-78-82).