The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/29/08 Section: Sports

Women's golf coach Kelley Hester [Click to enlarge]

The Georgia women's golf team will host the NCAA East Regional as the No. 3 seed looking to advance to the NCAA Championships.

The Bulldogs will compete on May 8-10 at the UGA Golf Course trying to reach the NCAAs on May 20-23 in Albuquerque, N.M.

Twenty-one teams and three individuals are in next weekend's East, West and Central Regional fields, which were announced by the NCAA April 28. The top eight teams and the top three individual finishers who are not members of a top-eight team from each Regional will advance to the NCAA Championships at the University of New Mexico's Championship Course the following week.

"We're extremely excited about having the opportunity to play at home, and we appreciate the chance to host a Regional," head coach Kelley Hester said. "To be honest, we really didn't think about who is the field. We were on the conference call but don't think who is in the field makes that big of a difference. I feel like if we play well and take care of business, it shouldn't be an issue. The UGA Golf Course is a tough track. I think the cream will l rise to the top. I don't think there will be crazy low numbers, and I don't think there will be a lot of surprises out of our Regional but only time will tell. It's not the type of course where you can go out and get lucky for three straight days. Some folks could play poorly and not make it, but I don't see any lower seeds posting crazy low numbers all of a sudden."

Two-time defending national champion Duke earned the No. 1 seed in the East Regional, with Florida, the SEC Champion, securing the No. 2 spot. Following the Bulldogs in succession of seeding are Auburn, Wake Forest, Tennessee, Virginia, New Mexico, Vanderbilt, Louisville, South Carolina, Furman, East Carolina, Georgia State, UCF, Missouri, Indiana, UNC Wilmington, Jacksonville State, Charleston Southern and Jackson State. Individuals Dori Carter of Ole Miss, Emma Degroot of Chattanooga and Paula Hurtado of Florida International round out the East field.

The top 12 seeds will play in the first round's morning wave starting at 8 on May 8. The following day, tee times will be flopped and the top seeds will hit the course at 12:30. p.m. The top teams following the first 36 holes of play will tee off beginning at 8 a.m. on May 10.

The SEC and Pac-10 each produced a nation-leading nine squads in the 63-team field. Seven Big 12 and six ACC schools qualified. In addition to the SEC teams in the East field, Alabama and LSU are the No. 3 and No. 7 seeds, respectively, at the Central Regional in Austin, Texas, while Arkansas is the No. 3 seed at the West Regional in Lincoln, Calif.

- Georgia Sports Communications

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