Arkansas Golf Fact Sheet #6

This WeekArkansas returns to the links traveling to sunny Florida for the UCF Invitational March 9-11. This year’s event takes place in Orlando at the Rail Tail Golf Club.
Who’s traveling?Great question. The rain and cold temperatures in Northwest Arkansas have delayed qualifying and head coach Shauna Estes-Taylor has not finalized the traveling five for this week. Last week, Arkansas sent senior Stacy Lewis, junior Lucy Nunn, sophomores Alex Schulte and Tiffany Phelps and freshman Kelli Shean into battle.
About the UCF InvitationalArkansas competed at the UCF Invitational last year finishing 10th of 13 teams. The Lady Razorbacks scored 928 (312-312-304) behind Stacy Lewis who tied for 15th overall with a 228 (76-67-67).
More About the UCFThis year’s event is scheduled for 17 teams and has a bit of an SEC feel. This year’s field includes Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Central Florida Duke, Florida State, Furman, Georgia, LSU, New Mexico, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, Purdue, Southern California, Tennessee, UCLA and Vanderbilt.
Strong SEC representationFor the second consecutive week, Arkansas faces a host of Southeastern Conference opponents. This week’s field includes Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
Who is the team to beat?Who isn’t? Arkansas is ranked sixth in both the GolfWeek and Golfstat polls this week and yet is far from the top team at this event. Also competing in top-ranked Duke (2/1/1) and UCLA (1/2/2) as well as Southern California (4/3/3), Auburn *7/7/5), Pepperdine (9/12/11) and Purdue (9/12/14) all of whom are in the top 10 in one of the three polls. Here’s a look at teams in the poll this week: (*Through Oct. 17, 2007)

Another Interesting Twist Arkansas senior Stacy Lewis faces Duke’s Amanda Blumenhurst for the second time this year. Blumenhurst and Lewis rank one and two in the Golfstat individual rankings and Lewis finished better (Lewis won) at the Stanford Invitational. Another win might give Lewis the leg up in the player of the year voting.
More about Lewis Stacy Lewis has won three consecutive collegiate events dating back to last fall. Lewis won the Stanford Intercollegiate, the UA Ann Rhodes and most recently the Lady Puerto Rico. She is the first player in school history to win three in a row and has won three events in back-to-back seasons (as a junior and senior).
Lewis earns SEC Golfer of the Week Stacy Lewis earned Southeastern Conference Golfer of the Week honors after winning last week’s Lady Puerto Rico. It was the first league weekly honor of the year and the fifth for Lewis’ career.
Speaking of the SEC Stacy Lewis ranks second in the league for stroke average with a 70.60 mark. She trails Tennessee junior Nicole Smith who has a 69.87 mark. Here’s a look at the top five:

March is a busy month To say the least!! Arkansas opens at the UCF Invitational March 9-11, travels to the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Classic March 17-19, on to the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic March -21-23 and wraps up with the Bryan National Collegiate March 28-30. The conclusion of March signals the beginning of post season at the SEC Championship April 18-20.
A Coaching Name Change By now, everyone is aware of the coaching change for this season as former head coach Kelley Hester departed for her alma mater and assistant coach Shauna Estes took over. & nbsp; There is another new twist for Estes — she got married in January. Estes will keep her maiden name and hyphenate it with her married name which is Taylor. She is now Shauna Estes-Taylor.