Razorbacks ready for postseason

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The University of Arkansas women’s golf team continues postseason action at the NCAA Central Regional Championship Thursday-Saturday at The Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio.

Arkansas, ranked No. 34 in the latest Golfstat.com poll, is making the program’s 10 Regional appearance and ninth consecutive showing at the Scarlet Course this week.

“I’ve played there as a player and coached there and seen the course under championship conditions,” said Arkansas head coach Shauna Estes-Taylor.  “I feel really prepared for the course.”

Arkansas tees off at 8 a.m. off the 10th hole on Thursday to start play.  The Razorbacks are paired with Purdue and Florida State for the first two rounds.

The rest of the field includes Southern California, Auburn, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Ohio State, Oregon, North Carolina State, Virginia, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Texas State, South Florida, Notre Dame, Texas-San Antonio, East Carolina, Michigan, UNC-Wilmington, Harvard, Butler and Siena.

“The field is a tough one,” said Estes-Taylor.  “There are seven SEC teams there and we saw how tough it was at our championship.  It’s going to be great for us.  We are looking forward to the next opportunity to accomplish some of our goals.”

The top eight teams from each of the three regional sites advance to the NCAA Championship hosted at Vanderbilt’s Legends Course in Nashville, Tenn.

The Razorbacks are paced by a pair of sophomores in Emily Tubert and Emma Lavy.  Tubert, a Burbank, Calif., native, is ranked third in the Golfstat.com rankings and first in the Southeastern Conference with a 72.22 stroke average this year.  She represented Team USA in The Spirit International in November and was a Curtis Cup selection for this summer.

Lavy, a Fayetteville, Ark., native has been a solid number two and finished sixth overall at the SEC Championship in late April.

“Emily and Emma bring a great work ethic and great leadership to our team, Estes-Taylor said.  “They have done a great job of moving our team forward and I expect them to be ready to go this week.

Also making the trip is junior Victoria Vela, sophomore Emily Podzielinski and freshman Hally Leadbetter.

The grasses will be a little different so we played a few different courses to prepare for that,” she continued.  “More importantly we have continued to sharpen our weaknesses and keep our strengths strong and right now we are ready to go.   We are excited to get going this week.”

Arkansas travels on Tuesday and plays a practice round Wednesday before beginning play Thursday.