April 2, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. - The UCF women's golf team, for the third consecutive spring event, is preparing to face a top national field, this time in the Ping/ASU Invitational at Arizona State's Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz.
The 54-hole event will feature single rounds on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the par-72, 6,230-yard course. The 17-team field features 10 of the nation's Top 25 teams in the current Golfweek standings, including No. 1 Arizona State, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 USC and No. 5 Oklahoma State. UCLA was the UCF Challenge champion last month in the Knights' annual event at RedTail Golf Club in Sorrento.
In the team's final tune-up for the Conference USA Championship, April 12-14 at Tulsa, UCF will get another look at the Golden Hurricane in Tempe. Tulsa is the only league team to finish ahead of the Knights during an event this year, doing so at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational in March.
This weekend's trip will be a special one for UCF head coach Emilee Klein as she played collegiately at ASU where, in 1994, she was both the individual NCAA champion and a part of the Sun Devils' team national championship. Klein's time at Arizona State helped launch a successful LPGA career, experience she passes along to her UCF team daily.
"I'm really excited about going back," Klein said. "I know the course and I think the girls are going to play really well on that course. It's set up terrifically for our team. My experience there will help too. I know that course like the back of my hand. I know certain areas where we need to hit it in the right place. It will definitely help us that I have so much experience on the golf course."
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.