May 21, 2010
No. 6 – Friday, May 21 – After Final Round
The year has officially come to an end for your UNM women’s golf team.
Today we concluded our final round of the NCAA National Championships at the Landfall Country Club in Wilmington, North Carolina. In the end there were tears of happiness, sadness and lots of emotions for me, Jodi Ewart and our coaches, Jill and Becky, because this tournament was the last for Jodi and me as Lobos.
I can’t quite tell you how it feels to be done yet, but I felt a little bit of it while the final hole on No. 18 today. As I stood on the 18th fairway, I looked around and I thought to myself, `This is it, my last hole of college golf. Make it special.’ I felt sad at that moment, but I had to get over it quick because I needed to hit my shot!
As Jodi finished in the group behind me, I ran down to the No. 18 green to give her and Jill the biggest hugs I could give. It was definitely a special moment that all three of us shared because it was a last time for a lot of things: last collegiate golf tournament, last time Jodi and I will play together as teammates, last NCAA Championship we’ll ever play in and last time we’ll ever have the privilege of being coached by Jill Trujillo and Becky Dover.
All and all, the overall experience of today and this entire week at Nationals has been one of the most fun and memorable times I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life. We played pretty well as a team today, but still, those last four finishing holes got to us! I will tell you this though, this week was special, and I think everyone on our team definitely felt it. Although we didn’t play as well as we expected, we all had a great time playing at the Landfall Country Club competing for the National Championship and most important, we enjoyed spending it together one last time as a team for the 2010 golf season.
Tonight we will have our NCAA Championship dinner at the Nicklaus Clubhouse at Landfall where they will announce the All-America teams, player awards and at the end of the dinner, all the seniors competing in the tournament, will perform a “Senior Skit.” The Senior Skit is the highlight of the banquet every year because the seniors imitate their coaches or other players during real situations that have happened throughout their college career. Hopefully Jodi and I can make our team laugh with what we have planned.
It was great blogging this week. I really enjoyed it and appreciate all of those who took the time to keep up with us at Nationals. Even though my college eligibility has come to end, I will always be a Lobo for life!
Go Lobos!
Britney
No. 5 – Friday, May 21 – Before Final Round
Yesterday was a great day for the Lobos! We improved again from Wednesday as a team and our highest individual score was a 75, which was shot by me, Sarah Salvo and Bethany Buchner. Jodi Ewart shot the team low 72 followed by Rebecca Hellbom’s 73. The weather was perfect compared to Wednesday and we could prove it if you asked us to show you our tan lines and sunburns!
After our round we had some time to come back to the hotel and get ready for dinner. We had made reservations for a restaurant right on the beach in Wrightsville. Along with the team, my parents (who flew in from Hawaii for the week) tagged along, as well as Bethany’s parents and grandparents from Colorado and (assistant coach) Becky Dover’s dad who flew out from California. It’s so awesome that my parents flew all the way across the country – and then some – to watch me play in my last collegiate golf tournament ever! Anyway, it was a dinner for champions with the freshest seafood to choose from: scallops, crab legs, shrimp, mussels, oysters, grouper, flounder, tuna, salmon, etc. Whatever you wanted from the ocean, they had it. I tried the Super Duper Grouper, which was a grouper fish that was pan crusted in cashews and a panko crust. It was delicious and tasted even better because it was fresh from the Atlantic!
When dinner was over, we all walked down to the beach and watched Rebecca swim…again. That girl loves the ocean and will go swimming no matter how cold the water is. It was nice to have everyone and the families hang out at the beach while the sun was setting. We took some great pictures and lots of funny ones too, which will all come in handy for memories with our NCAA National Championship gift that they gave us – a digital photo frame. I can’t wait to upload all of my pictures onto it when we get back home.
As we headed back to the van, Jodi came up with the smartest idea ever, ICE CREAM! So we headed straight to a homemade ice cream shop down the road and all got our sweet tooth fix. I had the 4 mini-scoop sampler which consisted of vanilla with sprinkles, cookie dough, banana with wafers, and chocolate cream pie. It was the best homemade ice cream I’ve had in a really long time!
It seems like all I have talked about in this blog is food, but it really did seem like the highlight of our day after a well played round of golf from everyone on our team. Hopefully, that meal will carry us over and help us improve again in today’s final round of the NCAA National Championships! We are all ready to come out firing low scores today and make our move up the leader board. We’ve done it before earlier this season at the ASU Invitational and we’re ready to do it again! Keep up with us on GolfStat.com and watch us live on holes 16, 17 and 18 on NCAA.com!
Go Lobos!
Britney
No. 4 – Thursday, May 20 – After Round 2
Hello Again!
What a day it was for the Lobos! Yesterday’s second round of the NCAA National Championship had crazy weather, making it a hectic day for some teams, but lucky for us we were able to complete our round. The Lobos shot a total round 296, eight-over-par, a much-needed improvement from our rough first round.
Everyone on our team broke 80, which was led by senior Jodi Ewart, who shot 1-under par 71 and sophomore Sarah Salvo, who carded a 2-over 74. I shot 75, Rebecca Hellbom 76 and Bethany Buchner 77.
We teed off in the morning when the overnight rains left us with only overcast skies. As we got into a few holes during our front nine, the sun started to come out. That is until we started finishing our last three holes on the back nine.
While Rebecca, Sarah and Bethany had all completed their respective rounds, I was playing on No. 18 when the winds decided to pick up and the black clouds began to invade the golf course, which also brought along some thunder. I was walking to my ball so I could hit my third shot and the horn sounded for play to be delayed because of the dangerous weather conditions. All the players had to evacuate their position on the course and head to the nearest evacuation site. There was a 50-minute delay until the rules officials told us it was safe to go back out. It was tough waiting because the weather seemed to be fine to play, but rules are rules.
About half an hour after we had finished our round, the weather started getting nasty and the rains began to pour down hard as the thunder rolled in again, which meant another delay. This lasted for a while off and on, which left teams unable to finish their second round of the tournament due to darkness. Those teams who did not complete their rounds were back on the course early this morning to finish round No. 2.
As a team, we are very thankful to have been able to play all 18 holes yesterday in good weather because it gave us a chance to make a comeback from our first round.
We’re ready to play and keep improving our way up the leader board. There are still two days of competition left, which means lots of good golf to be played! We appreciate all of your Lobo support and hope you continue to keep up with our team’s performance through GoLobos.com and GolfStat.com.
Also, remember that holes 16, 17 and 18 will be available live online at NCAA.com Thursday and Friday.
Go Lobos!
Britney
No. 3 – Tuesday, May 18 – After Round 1
Tomorrow will be a new day and a new round to play golf at the NCAA National Championship! Today’s first round wasn’t our best effort, but there are still three rounds left to be played.
The weather was perfect, but the putts weren’t dropping in the hole for the Lobos. Senior Jodi Ewart led us by shooting a 1-over 73. We can’t let Tuesday’s round get us down, We’re keeping our heads held high and are looking forward to bringing it back and moving up Wednesday!
We have an early tee time ahead of us at 8:55 a.m. Eastern Time. Our goals are to make more putts and score even more birdies. We can do it as we are one of the highest ranked teams in the country for the most birdies in a season!
Wednesday’s lineup begins with Rebecca Hellbom, then Bethany Buchner, Sarah Salvo, me, and Jodi Ewart. Be sure to follow us on golfstat.com for live scoring updates!
Go Lobos!
Britney
No. 2 – Tuesday, May 18 (a.m.)
Hello Again!
Thanks for tuning into day two of our trip to Nationals here in Wilmington, North Carolina. The Big Dance starts this afternoon for the Lobos as we are set to start play at 1:25 p.m., alongside Duke and Alabama. Our lineup is set with Bethany Buchner, Sarah Salvo, me, Rebecca Hellbom and Jodi Ewart in that order.
Yesterday, we had our second practice round as we played the front nine. The weather was slightly different from Sunday as we teed off in the afternoon and dealt with scattered rain showers and overcast clouds. The Lobos are ready to take on whatever comes our way!
If you’re wondering what kind of golf course we’re dealing with, the Landfall Country Club golf course is designed by Pete Dye which means: lots of bunkers, plenty of water and huge greens. The course is playing a little over 6,300 yards and there are all sorts of twists and turns from tee to green challenging every player’s ability to score well.
As for the Lobos, we have prepared ourselves as best as we could so we are ready to play our best golf of the year!
The way we’re going to execute and deliver good scores throughout the week is by hitting lots of fairways and greens and sinking those putts for birdies. But, if we miss a green, our goal is to get up-and-down to save par every time! The par 3s are where we will need to score well as a team because they are really tough.
For example, hole No. 16 is a 157+ yard par-3 that needs to be carried about 150 yards over a huge body of water, a.k.a. “a pond”. The Lobos won’t let that phase us, though, as we are going to have fun and play hard the entire week.
As a team we are all excited for the tournament to begin! Follow us on golfstat.com for live scoring updates and video streaming Thursday and Friday!
Go Lobos!
Britney
No. 1 – Monday, May 17, 2010
Hey Everyone,
This is Britney Choy from your Lobo women’s golf team and I’ll be blogging all week long while we are competing for a national championship.
It took us a while to get here, but we finally made it to Wilmington, North Carolina, for the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship! We were up at 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning and arrived in Wilmington at 5 p.m. and still had the energy to go to the beach! Wilmington is a beautiful town on the beach in southeastern North Carolina and it’s so green, too!
The entire team is excited to be here and represent the Lobos at the NCAA National Championships!
Since we got to Wilmington, we have been eating lots of great food, going to the beach, and most importantly, playing golf. Sunday was our first day of practice at the Landfall Country Club. We played here last fall during the NCAA Preview tournament so it’s nice to already be familiar with the golf course. We played the back nine holes and had a great time on the course. The weather was in the 80s all day with a slight breeze, but still the typical East Coast humidity was in the air.
After golf we headed for the beach to have some fun before the players’ dinner. The ocean was freezing, but that didn’t stop Rebecca Hellbom and Sarah Salvo from taking a swim. The rest of us were too chicken to get in, yes..even me, (the one from Hawaii) because it was too cold. Maybe I’ll give it another try today!
Tonight’s dinner was amazing! It was a BBQ aboard the USS North Carolina battleship with downtown Wilmington in the background. All the teams were there and we had full access on the battleship. It was a blast and, best of all, the food was amazing! They served us good ol’ southern BBQ food: Cajun shrimp, BBQ chicken, green beans, hush puppies, mac and cheese, corn bread, potato salad and spinach salad.
After we feasted, the program started and the highlight of the program was the video that featured all the teams on the course Sunday. Each team was told before leaving for Nationals that we would be filmed doing an activity or special talent. So, as a team we decided that I would play my ukulele and Rebeccca would sing while the rest of the team (Bethany Buchner, Jodi Ewart, Sarah Salvo) would be our backup dancers. It was hilarious and we definitely got the biggest response from everyone who was watching.
Today, we have our final practice round and then the chase for the National Championship begins on Tuesday.
Thanks for tuning in! Go Lobos!
Britney