2B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
THURSDAY, APRIL 7.2005
ATHLETICS CALENDAR
Track and Field at Texas Relays, all day, Austin, Texas
TOMORROW
- Baseball at Oklahoma, 7 p.m., Norman, Okla.
- Intercollegiate, all day, Holly Springs, N.C.
- Men's golf at the Courtyard by Marriott
Integrate all day Holly Springs, N.C.
Track and Field at Texas Relays, all day, Austin, Texas
SATURDAY
- Baseball at Oklahoma, 2 p.m., Norman, Okla.
- More golf with me!
Intercollegiate, all day, Holly Springs, N.C.
- Tennis at Missouri, 11 a.m., Columbia, Mo.
- Rowing at Kansas Cup, all day, Manhattan
- Softball at Oklahoma State, 2 p.m., Stillwater, Okla.
- Women's golf at Lady Boilermaker invite, all day,
West Lafayette, Ind.
- SUNDAY
- Track and Field at Texas Relays, all day, Austin, Texas
- Softball at Oklahoma State, 1 p.m., Stillwater, Okla.
- Baseball at Oklahoma, 1 p.m., Norman, Okla.
★ Women's Golf at Lady Boilermaker Invitational, all day. West Lafayette, Ind.
INTRAMURAL SCORES
FRIDAY
FRIDAY
ULTIMATE FRISBEE
Men's
DU1 def GP
DU 1 def. GP 6-2
DU 3 def. Disc-O Ballers 11-3
TRACK AND FIELD
The KU track and field team will split up the sound this weekend.
Two roads to competition: one to Texas, one to Emporia
Athletes will head to Austin, Texas, for the Texas Relays, and Emporia for the State Farm- Euler Invitational.
Jeremy Mims, Aaron Thompson, Sheldon Battle, Amy Linnen, Brooklynn Hann, and Benson Chesang highlight the group that travels to the Texas Relays, among others.
The Jayhawks will compete against Trackwire Top 25 schools such as Arkansas, USC, Florida, Stanford and host Texas.
The second half of the team will hone its skills against other Big 12 Conference schools such as Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Nebraska.
-Pat Shehan
GOLF
Woods to be overshadowed at Masters, no longer on top
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Woods is used to star treatment at Augusta National, where he shattered scoring records as a 21-year-old and already had three green jackets by the time he was 26.
But no longer is he the main event.
Phil Mickelson is the defending champion as the
But no longer is he the main event.
Phil Mickelson is the defending champion as the
69th Masters begins today and many believe he is primed to join Woods, Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus as the only back-to-back winners of a green jacket.
His victory Monday in the BellSouth Classic was his third of the year. His confidence soars just driving down Magnolia Lane, walking upstairs to the champions locker room and being on a golf
Woods
course where a year ago he birdied five of the last seven holes to capture his first major.
Vijay Singh is No. 1 in the world, and has been for all but two weeks in March. Ernie Els is seeking redemption at Augusta National. Retief Goosen is seeking recognition. Els and Goosen, along with Mickelson and Singh, all have won majors in the nearly three years since Woods last captured a coveted Grand Slam event.
He hasn't had this much competition since winning the first of his eight majors at Augusta National in 1997.
Doug Ferguson/The Associated Press
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Contact Bill Cross or Jonathan Kealing at
864-4858 or sports@kansan.com.
Despite loss, doubles improve
Tulsa dominates Kansas, players look at positives
Rylan Howe/KANSAN
BY RAHUL SHARMA
rsharma@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Missed opportunities highlighted Kansas' 6-1 loss to Tulsa, at the Robinson Courts, yesterday.
Freshman Lauren Hommell hits a forehand shot during her single match yesterday at Robinson Courts. Hommell lost in three sets, 5-7, 6-0, 6-1, and the team lost the match 6-1 against Tulsa.
The Jayhawks lost five of six singles matches, with freshman Stephanie Smith recording the lone victory for Kansas, knocking off Kindsay Grimes of Tulsa, 7-6, 7-6.
"I just competed as hard as I could the whole match," Smith said. The Salina native has won her last two singles matches and leads the team with 11 overall victories.
"Stephanie is a grinder," coach Amy Hall-Holt said. "I'm really happy with her performance."
Freshman Elizaveta Avdeeva, who joined the Kansas program just two weeks before the start of the spring season, fell in a straight set loss to Daniela Muscolino, 6-0, 6-2.
0-6.1-6.
Four of the six matches ended in straight set losses for the lavhawks.
Freshman Lauren Hommell, who won the first set of her match versus Santie Delport, dropped the remaining two sets, eventually falling, 7-5.
"It wasn't working today." Hommell said.
On Thursday, Hommell will practice in a one-on-one session with assistant coach Frank Polito. She'll
be working on her serve and dictating points.
In doubles, Hommell played alongside junior Christine Skoda for the first time this spring.
of the three scheduled against Tulsa.
Kansas posted a one-match victory
Kansas, which is now 4-12 faces border-rival Missouri on Saturday in Columbia, Mo.
— Edited by Jennifer Voldness
A hero's homecoming
LM Otero/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baylor women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson gestures to fans as she arrives at the Ferrell Center for a celebration in Waco, Texas, yesterday. Baylor won the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship with an 84-62 victory against Michigan State on Tuesday.
BIG SKY TO BIG TIME
Masters promises to be event unlike any other
I had the pleasure of broadcasting one of the greatest games played in Allen Fieldhouse on Feb. 27: Kansas vs. Oklahoma State. About two and a half hours before the game, my partner, Jimmy Chavez, and I
TIM HALL thall@kansan.com
got a chance to talk with one of our favorite broadcasters — Verne Lundquist
He told us about his favorite college basketball venues, including Allen Fieldhouse.
I also asked Lundquist what his next golf assignment would be because I had not heard him all year long.
"My first golf tournament this year won't come until Augusta," Lundquist said.
Wow, you could do a lot worse for the first golf assignment of the year. But Lundquist is surely as good as it gets when it comes to golf.
Today, the 68th Masters Tournament begins play at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. This weekend, 93 players will have the opportunity to play for the coveted green jacket in the season's first major tournament event, and Phil Mickelson is ready to defend it.
Other than Lefty, the favorites this week are the rest of the Big Four: Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and the world's top player, Vijay Singh. Last year's tournament will be a tough act to follow. The lovable loser, the Chicago Cub of golf, Mickelson broke his curse and won his first major tournament title. It didn't come without drama, either. He drained an 18-foot birdie putt on the 72nd green and won the Masters by one stroke.
Mickelson is heading into the first round of a major tournament as the defending champion for the first time of his career, and he is not trying to change anything
from last year. Mickelson said that returning to the Masters this year as the defending champion would be a special feeling.
"When I walk on the premises knowing that I'll be back
every year for the rest of my career, it's a special feeling, to be part of the history," Mickelson told the Associated Press.
Ernie Els remembers the 2004 Masters. Els finished second behind Mickelson, his second second-place finish in the last five Masters. He has finished in the top 10 in the last five Masters.
Els is coming into this year's event playing some of the best golf of his career, and he is ready to win one of two majors that has eluded him. Vijay Singh, 2000 Masters champion, is playing in his first major tournament as the world's top-ranked player, and he knows it.
"I'm pretty comfortable with the position that I'm in. I should be, you know?" Singh told the Associated Press. "What could be better? I'm here at the Masters, best player in the world right now and ready to go win another one."
And then there's three-time Masters champion Tiger Woods, the best golfer in the game for the past eight years.
Woods hasn't won a major tournament since the 2002 U.S. Open Championship, and he is ready to prove to the world that his "slump" is over. The stage is set for what will be another memorable tournament at Augusta National. Verne Lundquist will be in for a real treat this year, as he is every year in Augusta. So enjoy it, Verne, and have a great call. • Hall is an Ogden, Utah junior in
journalism.