6B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2005
WOMEN'S GOLF
Tournament could decide regional bid
The women's golf team will play in the Lady Boilermaker Invitational this weekend, the last tournament before the Big 12 Conference Championship.
Tomorrow at 8 a.m. in West Lafayette, Ind., the Jayhawks will tee off on the Kampen Course, part of Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex.
battermaker Golf Complex. The tournament is a shotgun start, meaning everyone in the tournament tees off at the same time, from different holes. Kansas will play 36-holes tomorrow and the final 18-holes on Sunday in the tournament hosted by Purdue University.
Kansas will compete against Big 12 conference foes Texas A&M and Iowa State, plus 11 other schools, the majority of which come from the Big 10 conference. Because Kansas is on the bubble for a regional bid, each tournament could be an opportunity to move up in the rankings.
"Right now we're ranked 22nd and they take 21 teams," sophomore Amanda Costner said. "It's just going to take us going out there and playing three rounds of golf well."
After the tournament, the Big 12 Conference Championship in Austin, Texas, will be the Jayhawks' last chance to make a move toward regions. The championship, which will be on April 22-24, will be on the same course Kansas played earlier this year at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational.
At the time, coach Erin O'Neil called the tournament "a Big 12 preview." The Jayhawks did not finish as well as they would have liked, but improved dramatically the last day, shooting 10.5 strokes better than the average of the first two days.
Once this weekend's tournament ends, Kansas has 11 days to work on its game before its biggest tournament of the year so far.
Whoa,bro
Travis Robinett
TRACK AND FIELD
Team off to fast start
Five top-10 finishes highlight meet's first day
BY PATRICK SHEAH
pshehan@hansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
With two days left at the relays, many Jayhawks have yet to compete. But the ones that did made a statement.
The Kansas track and field team started strong yesterday at the Texas Relays with five top-10 finishes.
The men's 3,200-meter relay team finished second behind Southern California. The team's time of 7:24:88 shot them above Big 12 Conference rivals Baylor and Oklahoma.
Paige Higgins also fared well in the 5,000-meter run. The senior finished seventh overall with a time of 17:29.70. Higgins is a cartoonist for The University Daily Kansan.
Chris Jones and Colby Wissell placed sixth and eighth in the men's 5,000-meter run. Jones finished with a time of 14:51:59. Wissell finished with the time of 15:05:44.
Jen Widerstrom, fresh off of her record-breaking performance last weekend at the Missouri Relays, finished fifth in the women's hammer throw. She broke her previous KU record at Missouri with a throw of 55.50 meters. The junior's throw of 55.84 meters at the Texas Relays broke it again. She ranks third in the Big 12 in the hammer throw.
Sheldon Battle, ranked first in the Big 12 in the shot put, finished fourth in the event with the throw of 60.44 meters. The junior was coming off his victory in the hammer throw last weekend at the Missouri Relays.Battle's hammer throw ranks fifth in the Big 12.
"I'm just trying to execute the technique. The throws are not
"I didn't fare as well as I would have liked." Battle said. "I don't think anyone threw as they would have liked."
near where I. want to be," Widerstrom said.
In the 400-meter hurdles, Aaron Thompson and Lantz Tolson failed to make it to the finals, which are later this weekend. Thompson, a junior, finished 18th with a time of 52.86 seconds. Tolson, a junior, finished 46th with a time of 57.49 seconds.
Kansas coach Stanley Redwine said there was room for improvement, even for the team's top finishers.
Janiece Gatson finished 30th in the 400-meter hurdle preliminaries. The sophomore finished with a time of 1.03.30.
"We can't be afraid of competition," Redwine said. "To prepare in meets like this, it's a step in the right direction. They're starting off with great confidence to prepare them for the end of the season."
— Edited by Kendall Dix
Erin Droste/KANSAN
Kasper Schirer, Maize senior, grabs a frisbee from midain yesterday evening. Schirer and his friends met on the lawn of Fraser Hall to take advantage of the mild weather.
PGA GOLF
Mickelson, Singh lead Master's pack
BY DOUG FERGUSON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Opening Day at the Masters brought some familiar sights yesterday — first the rain, then the names atop the leaderboard that included defending champion Phil Mickelson and world No. 1 Vijay Singh.
But don't get the idea this was just another typical day at Aucusta National.
Tiger Woods hit an eagle putt that went off the green and into Rae's Creek. Ernie Els spent more time in the trees than in the fairway. Former champion Billy Casper returned to the Masters for the first time in three years and made history with the highest
score on a hole (14) and the highest round (106).
Jaek Nicklaus teed off to a heartfelt ovation in what might be his last Masters.
And when a wet and wacky start to the 69th Masters ended in darkness, Palmer was on the leaderboard — not four-time winner Arnold Palmer, but Masters rookie Ryan Palmer.
Of the 24 players who managed to squeeze in the first round, Mark Hensby of Australia was the clubhouse leader at 3-under 69, showing that Augusta National doesn't have to be crusty and firm to be a brute.
Chris DiMarco, who showed Mickelson the line on his winning putt last year, birdied three
straight holes and was atop the leaderboard at 4 under par with four holes still to play.
Luke Donald of England was another shot behind and four holes left in his first round, while the group at 2 under included Mickelson, Singh, Palmer, Retief Goosen and Stuart Appleby.
Players were to return at 9:45 a.m. to complete the first round, and barring any more weather delays, the tournament should be back to normal by the weekend.
This was the ninth time in 15 tournaments that weather interrupted play, and the fourth straight week of rain.
Trying to hold down his No.1 ranking, Singh was a model of consistency in a first round that
was out of whack before players even arrived at Augusta National — tee times were pushed back five times as more than an inch of rain fell, leading to a 5 1/2-hour delay and players starting from both tees.
Along with picking up three birdies on the front nine, Singh twice saved par with 10-foot putts. His only bogy came on the 11th hole, the last one he played before the round was suspended, leaving him at 2 under.
Mickelson was all smiles when he stepped to the first tee, looking not much differently from when he left the Masters last year wearing a green jacket. He opened with a bogey, but kept himself out of trouble most of the day and
gave himself ample birdie chances.
Goosen, the forgotten figure in all the hype over the "Big Four," made a rare birdie on the par-3 12th, then recovered from a tee shot into the azaleas on the par-5 13th to escape with par.
It wasn't the fast, fiery course most players wanted to see, conditions that have not been around for the Masters since the course was super-sized three years ago.
Based on the scoring, they might be thankful for the rain.
Even with the greens soft and holding approach shots, only 10 of the 92 players were under par, and already there were five scores at 80 or higher among those who finished.
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