Aug. 28, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM - Wake Forest women’s golf team is ranked 12th in Gold World’s preseason poll released Wednesday. Sophomore standout Natalie Sheary was also named by Golf World to the Top 50 Female Golfers to Watch in 2008. Wake Forest received a total of 372 points, which is just 16 points behind Denver in 11th but 91 points ahead of Arizona in 13th. Behind Duke, the Deacs are the second highest ranked ACC team in the poll. Southern Cal, the defending national champions, sits atop the poll, receiving 14 first place votes and 625 total points. UCLA received eight first place votes and is second in the poll, followed by Duke in third, who received three first place votes. Arizona State, who received the final first place vote, is fourth and Oklahoma State rounds out the top five. The Deacons had a solid 2007-08 campaign, winning the Landfall Tradition and advancing to their third straight NCAA Championship. Wake also had four other top-five finishes and had two players, senior Nanette Hill and Sheary claim medalist honors in back-to-back tournaments for the first time in school history. After a sixth place finish at the NCAA Regionals in Athens, Ga., the Deacs survived the brutal weather conditions at the NCAA Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., to finish tenth in 2008. Sheary is on the Top 50 Female Golfers to Watch list for the 2008 season and for good reason.She had a breakout freshman season, winning the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge on Feb. 11-13 and was named the ACC Freshman of the Year. She posted a total of four top-five finishes last year and finished tied for 28th at the NCAA Championships. She also earned Golfweek honorable mention All-American honors along with All-ACC and Academic All-ACC honors in 2008. This summer, Sheary finished second at the CIGNA Golf Classic on the DURAMED Futures Tour and also qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Sheary and the rest of the Deacs will open up the 2008-09 season at the NCAA Fall Preview at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, MD., on Sept. 7-8. Complete Golf World Poll |
