No. 1 women’s golf sends six to Texas

Published On:
Friday, March 20, 2009
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The No. 1 ASU women’s golf team will send six of its members to Austin, Texas, this weekend for the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational.

The tournament will last through Sunday, at the University of Texas Golf Club.

Competition in the field for the Sun Devils will include No. 9 Duke, No. 13 Vanderbilt, No. 14 Purdue and No. 20 UA.

Both Golfweek.com and Golf World/NGCA have ASU ranked No. 1 in their polls.

The lineup for the tournament includes freshmen Carlota Ciganda and Giulia Molinaro, sophomore Jaclyn Sweeney, junior Juliana Murcia and senior Azahara Munoz.

ASU coach Melissa Luellen said her team played a practice round in Texas on Thursday to prep of this weekend’s tournament.

“The course we will play on will take some getting used to,” Luellen said. “Everyone has a game-plan in mind, and as long as everyone sticks to their plan, I think everyone should do well.”

In individual player news, Ciganda earned an exemption into the J Golf Phoenix LPGA International, which will take place at the Papago Golf Course from March 23 to 29.

Ciganda earned her spot in the event by posting a 3-under 69 at the Amateur Qualifier.

Munoz returned to the course at the last UFC Challenge tournament, after recovering from a wrist injury, and ASU coach Melissa Luellen was pleased with her progress.

The Sun Devils finished second at the tournament, finishing seven strokes behind first-place UCLA.

Sweeney (t-6th) and Munoz (t-10th) both cracked the top 10. It was Sweeney’s first top-10 finish of the season.

Reach the reporter at allison.carlin@asu.edu.