The Long Beach State women’s golf team opens the spring season as they travel to Northern California for the Peg Barnard Invitational hosted by Stanford University. The two-day 36-hole tournament is scheduled to begin on Saturday at 9 a.m. and Sunday at 8 a.m. at the Stanford Golf Course (par-71, 6,117 yards). Both days will begin with a shotgun start. This year’s Peg Barnard will feature an 11-team field with No. 21 California, Fresno State, Hawaii, Long Beach State, Oregon, San Jose State, Santa Clara, No. 24 Stanford, Texas, No. 25 UC Davis and Washington. Senior Brenda Chhuor, junior Lindsey McAtee, sophomores Monica Villareal and Noelle Zavaleta and freshman Simone Hoey will represent LBSU in this weekend’s tournament at Stanford. Live scoring will not be available for the Peg Barnard Invitational.
LAST TIME AT THE PEG BARNARD INVITATIONAL: The 49ers will be making their 11th appearance at the Peg Barnard Invitational this weekend. LBSU last played in the tournament two years ago when the 49ers finished in 11th place (out of 14 teams) with a two-round score of 627 (326-301). The 49ers recorded their highest finish at the 2007 Peg Barnard Invitational in fourth place (13 teams) with a score of 592 (289-303).
MOTHER NATURE CANCELS THE GOLD RUSH: The inaugural Golf Rush golf tournament hosted by Long Beach State was cancelled due to the heavy rains that fell in the Southern California region last week, causing extensive flooding and poor course conditions at Old Ranch Country Club in Seal Beach. The two-day 36-hole event was scheduled to take place on Monday and Tuesday and featured 12 teams from five different conferences.
LBSU CONCLUDES FALL SEASON: The 49ers wrapped up the fall season by competing in three tournaments, the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic, Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational and the Turtle Bay Invitational. Out of the three tournaments LBSU participated in, the 49ers recorded their best performance at Turtle Bay in Hawaii as they tied for seventh place (out of 17 teams) with Tulsa with a three-round score of 38-over par 902. The Beach finished in 13th (16 teams) at Ptarmigan and tied for 11th (13 teams) at Edean Ihlanfeldt.
HOEY RECORDS FIRST TOP 10 FINISH: Freshman Simone Hoey recorded her first top 10 mark as a 49er as she tied for 10th at the Turtle Bay Invitational in Kahuku, Hawaii back in November. Hoey, finished the three round tournament with a two-over 218. In her first tournament as a 49er, Hoey tied for 29th at the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic with a five-over 221 and tied for 35th at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational with a 23-over 239.
ZAVALETA HAS IMPRESSIVE FALL SEASON: Sophomore transfer Noelle Zavaleta (Boise State) made an impressive debut as a 49er as she led LBSU in their first two tournaments of the fall season and recorded her first top 20 finish (fifth overall) at The Beach as she tied for 29th at the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic with a five-over 221 and tied for 20th at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational with a 17-over 233.
MCATEE NAMED TO NGCA ALL-AMERICAN SCHOLAR TEAM: For the second straight year, junior Lindsey McAtee was named to the 2008-09 National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Team. A total of 410 women’s collegiate golfers from Division I, II and III were recognized for the prestigious honor that is some of the most stringent in all of college athletics as student-athletes must have a minimum cumulative GPA is 3.50 and must have competed in at least 50% of the scheduled competitive rounds during the year.
49ERS RELOAD WITH HOEY, ZAVALETA: Although the 49ers lost two of their best players this past season (All-American Kay Hoey to graduation and Lee Lopez transferring to UCLA), the team welcomes two new players that are very familiar to the program, sophomoreNoelle Zavaleta (Long Beach) and freshman Simone Hoey (Rancho Cucamonga). Zavaleta, a Wilson High School graduate, transferred from Boise State where she played in eight tournaments for the Broncos with two top ten finishes and three top 25. Zavaleta finished second for Boise State at the Western Athletic Conference Championships in Reno, Nev. as she tied for 17th with a 229. She finished the season with a stroke average of 77.17. Hoey, the younger sister of Kay, graduated from Rancho Cucamonga High School where she was a four-year letterwinner on the boys golf team.
LBSU IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: For the second time in program history, LBSU took part in the NCAA Tournament as the 49ers were among 21 teams at the West Regional in Tempe, Ariz. The Beach finished in 17th place with a score of 908 (299-310-299) at the Karsten Golf Course. Kay Hoey was the top player for LBSU as she finished in 17th.
BEACH WINS FIRST BIG WEST TITLE: After finishing in second place three of the past four years, LBSU won their first Big West Conference Championship at the San Luis Obispo Country Club this past April. The 49ers won on the last hole by one-stroke over UC Irvine and UC Davis. The Beach finished with a tournament score of 965 (308-313-308). Freshman Lee Lopez was the 49ers’ top player as she finished in a four-way tie for second place with a 12-over 228 (74-76-78). Senior All-American Kay Hoey tied for seventh with a 17-over 233 (76-79-78), while junior Brenda Chhuor tied for 12th with a 237 (83-79-75). Sophomore Reina Rogers finished in 17th as she carded a 240 (75-82-83) and fellow classmate Lindsey McAtee tied for 18th with a 241 (85-79-77).
NEXT UP FOR THE BEACH: The 49ers will make the short drive to Santa Clarita for the Bruin/Wave Invitational hosted by UCLA and Pepperdine. The three-day tournament will take place at the Robinson Ranch Golf Course on Monday, Mar. 1 – Wednesday, Mar. 3.
Reports From LBSU