Sept. 19, 2000 Seattle - The Washington women's golf team opens the 2000 fall season Thursday, Sept. 21 when the Huskies compete at the 22nd Annual Comcast Dick McGuire Invitational at the New Mexico Championship Golf Course in Albuquerque. Washington is one of 18 teams in the field that will participate in the three-day tournament on the par-73, 6,069-yard course. The Huskies are ranked 25th in GolfWorld's preseason standings. Arizona won the 1999 McGuire title with a three-round total of 880. Host New Mexico tied with USC for second-place honors with scores of 896. Texas Christian's Angela Stanford took medalist honors with a three-round total of 215. The Huskies' lineup for the McGuire Invitational will include junior Kelli Kamimura in the number-one position followed by sophomore Louise Friberg, sophomore Michelle Grafos, freshman Jenny Kamimura and freshman Bianca Clark. "We're taking a really young team so that's a great unknown," says Husky head coach Mary Lou Mulflur, who enters her 18th season as Washington's head coach. "We have two freshman in our starting lineup. These guys can play and it's just a matter of knowing that you can and going out there. I expect them to do well." This year's field includes Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, UCLA, Colorado State, Kansas, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, USC, SMU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Christian, UTEP and Texas Tech. "It's a very good field," Mulflur says. "Albuquerque traditionally has a strong field. It's good for us to jump right in and kind of see where we're at and what we need to work on and what we need to do to get better. Despite fielding a youthful roster, Mulflur hopes the Huskies can return to NCAA Championship play after failing to advance beyond the regionals the past two seasons. "I think we've tried to establish that goal early with the freshman, that our expectation is to put yourself in a position to make a run at the national tournament at the end of the year," she says. "We have spent a couple of days talking that over, trying to get everyone to believe that's a possibility if we work harder than anybody else, if we're in better shape than everybody else and if we're in a better frame of mind than everybody else. We've got a group that is pretty committed to doing that, I feel good about them." Kamimura figures to lead the Husky charge despite a subpar sophomore campaign after earning All-Pac-10 honors as a freshman. "There are going to be some times when things don't go as well as you like, but at the same time I think she has really come back and re-energized and refocused and hopefully that's behind her and she's going to play great for us all year," Mulflur says. "Kelli's playing really well. She didn't compete a lot this summer, but it's clear from the last few days that she is playing as well now as she has in probably eight to 10 months. She is clearly head and shoulders above the rest right now, and the others need to step up." Kamimura is joined this season by her younger sister, Jenny, a freshman on the Husky roster. "We've never had sisters on the team before," says Mulflur, who has been a part of every Husky team as either a player or coach. "It brings a different dynamic to the team, and I am glad that they are actually going first trip right out of the gate. There's no wondering what that will be like, we can find out right away. I am excited for them. I think that it's neat. I am really excited for them. They get along great and they get along with their team great. I think it will be a good thing." |
