Sunday, April 13, 2008

In two years in the Atlantic Sun, ETSU has finished second to Campbell both years. This year, the Buccaneers have experienced some historical milestones for the program as Sinead O'Sullivan (Galway, Ireland) won the first Atlantic Sun Golfer of the Month Award, winning for the month of March after capturing the individual crown at the University of South Alabama Lady Jaguar Invitational. Her win marked just the second time an ETSU women's golfer had won an individual title. ETSU also reached new highs in the Golfstat.com rankings, reaching as high as No. 42 and enters the tournament as the highest-ranked team in the conference at No. 45, 17 spots ahead of Campbell. O'Sullivan, along with 2007 Atlantic Sun Championship runner-up and Freshman of the Year Laura Jansone (Jurmala, Latvia) will look to become the second-straight host school to win the league title.

Only one current member of the Atlantic Sun has experienced winning the conference championship. Since joining the league in the 1995, Campbell has captured the title eight times and finished second an additional four times. Only once in 13 years have the Camels finished outside the top two; they placed sixth in 2003. The Camels have dominated the All-Conference team with 42 members since 1995. The other seven schools have a mere 28 All-Conference performers combined.

In 2008, the Camels will attempt to win three consecutive A-Sun golf titles for the second time in program history. They won three straight from 1996 to 1998. Only one other A-Sun women's team has won at least three conference titles in succession. FIU won four in a row from 1991-94. They can also join the Belmont men's cross country and basketball teams, along with Jacksonville's women's indoor track and field team as the only teams in the Atlantic Sun to own active streaks of at least three straight conference titles.

Entering the A-Sun Championship, Belmont and Stetson have captured four of the five Golfer of the Month Awards. Bruins' junior Lorrie Warren won the award for September and February, becoming the fifth woman to win multiple monthly awards in a season. The Hatters had a pair a women earn top golfer honors as Danielle Jackson won the award for October and Lauren Darnell won in November. Prior to their victories, no Stetson women's golfer had earned a Golfer of the Month since Samantha Maust won in September 2003.

The Ridges Golf Course was designed by Arthur Hills, twice named Golf Digest's "Architect of the Year" and one of the top five course designers in the country. Hills drapes his courses around a simple idea - to capture the beauty of a place, not alter it. Across the graceful landscape of The Ridges, Hills has drawn on this same sensibility to lay out a masterpiece of hole-to-hole variety - what he calls "a golfer's delight." Like every great course, The Ridges gives the golfer drama and excitement. You encounter water on seven holes, magnificent views and heart-pounding approach shots to the greens. For instance, hole #8, where golfers can play "safe" to the right side of Boones Creek or try to carry the green in two by flying over the water twice.