National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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May 25, 2010 8:45:20 AM

The city of Wilmington, North Carolina, is known for many things, and from now on, the list may include being the site for perhaps the best Division I Women's Golf Championships ever held.

The May 18-21 finals at the Country Club of Landfall are drawing rave reviews.  

"In terms of total experience, on a scale of one to 10, it was a 15," said Nancy Cross, chair of the Division I Women's Golf Committee. "It was the best golf event I have ever been associated with. It had the whole package – a great golf course, tremendous volunteers and great fan support. Wilmington didn't just knock it close to the pin with this event, they hit a hole-in-one."

Wilmington is accustomed to the big time and is the childhood home of many top athletes, including Michael Jordan, Sugar Ray Leonard and Althea Gibson. But the events of the last weekend were special, even by the Port City's high standards.

Purdue won its first team championship by staving off a late challenge from Southern California. Thea Hoffmeister birdied the 18th hole after playing the previous four holes 5-over-par, and then the Boilermakers waited as two Southern California golfers missed match-tying putts.

In the race for medalist honors, Oklahoma State's Caroline Hedwall fired back-to-back 68s in the final two rounds to breeze past Jennifer Johnson of Arizona State by four shots.

But in addition to the high-caliber golf and the record-setting galleries that witnessed it, more than 400 people volunteered their time to make sure it was a first-class event. Wilmington also hosted a successful championship in 1995 but wanted to take it up a notch this time around.

"We wanted to put on the best possible event for all the student-athletes and coaches," said Pat Howey, tournament director and deputy athletics director at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, which served as host for the tournament. "We wanted to make sure they knew that this wasn't just another event but that this was for the national championship. We knew with the commitment we had from everyone in Wilmington that we could make it something special for the student-athletes and coaches.

"Watching the number of people waiting as the last couple of groups came up the 18th hole gave me goose bumps, and it makes you realize why you put in all of the time needed to host an event like this."

"I've been to 11 NCAA women's golf championships and this was the best one," Purdue coach Devon Brouse said. "In terms of community support, quality of the course, the atmosphere itself – it was all pretty unbelievable. Everyone I talked to, whether it was coaches, officials or fans, has that same opinion about how great it was.

"Of course, the result couldn't have been any better for us."

The championships move next year to the Traditions Golf Club in College Station, Texas. It's a reasonable assumption, though, that the event will return to Wilmington soon.

"We really need to consider going back there once every four years so each student-athlete has the opportunity to experience it," Cross said. "The student-athletes loved the attention from the community. There were little kids asking for autographs from the student-athletes, and that just made them feel like celebrities. Anywhere you went in the town of Wilmington you knew that the NCAA women's golf championships were going on.

"There is no question that the student-athletes felt like they were part of something special – and they should have felt that way, because they were."