April 28, 2003

Columbia, Mo. - After a history-making run to second place at the Big 12 Women's Golf Championships last week in Columbia and a solid regular season, the University of Missouri women's golf squad has qualified for the 21-team NCAA Central Regional competition in Lincoln, Neb., members of the NCAA Women's Golf Committee announced today.

While this year's lone Tiger senior, Elin Ohlsson, represented the Tigers as an individual last season in the Regional competition, Mizzou returns as a team to the competition for the fifth time in six years. The Tigers will be competing at Firethorn Golf Club with play set to begin on Thurs., May 8, and conclude on Sat., May 10.

"We are extremely honored to have the opportunity to compete at an NCAA Regional level," Cooper said. "Our team is peaking at the right time and hopefully we can put three more solid rounds together and continue to improve as a team."

The Tigers were the No. 9 seed of the tough 21-team field that will tackle Firethorn next week. There will be some familiar faces for the Tigers as Big 12 foes Texas (seeded No. 2), Oklahoma (8), Baylor (10), Texas A&M (15), Kansas State (18) and Nebraska (19) will also be competing in the Central Region. Mizzou out-dueled all of those squads last week at the Big 12 Championships and fell just a stroke short of winning the Big 12 Crown behind Oklahoma State, which is selected as the No. 3 seed in the West Regional.

The Central Regional is one of three tournaments being held to determine the NCAA National Championship field. If the Tiger can finish in the top eight of the Regional, they will advance to the NCAA Championships, which will be held in Lafayette, Ind., from May 20-23. Live scoring will be provided at www.GolfStat.com or at www.MUTigers.com.