The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Mangan Ready For NCAA East Regional
5/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
May 4, 2005
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Brooke Mangan will make history on Thursday. The UAB senior women's golfer will tee off as an individual in the NCAA Women's Golf East Regional at the par-70, 6,023-yard University Golf Course at the University of Florida. It is the first-ever postseason appearance for a UAB women's golfer.
The tournament is a three-day, 54-hole qualifier for the NCAA National Tournament.
"This will be the first tournament I've played where I didn't also have school work going on," said Mangan, who finished her first semester of graduate-level work in accounting last week. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in accounting in December. "I think that will help me concentrate. At this level of golf, you have to take each shot one at a time and stay focused. If I do that and make some puts, I should have a good showing"
Mangan joins two other individuals and 21 teams competing in the national qualifier Thursday through Saturday. The top eight teams and two individuals not from those teams advance to the NCAA National Tournament in Corvallis, Ore., May 17-20. Mangan was selected, along with Louisville's Adrienne White and Megan Little as the East Region's three individual competitors.
"I think making it to an NCAA Regional just sets a tone for what UAB women's golf has to come," Mangan said of her historic selection. "It shows other players and future recruits that Coach Wilcox creates an environment around the program that will allow you to be successful both in the classroom and on the golf course. Once the program achieves something the first time, the second and third and so on are easier to come by. It's a nice step for all of us and I'm honored to be a part of the first one."
Mangan will be competing against a difficult field in the tournament. Top-ranked Duke headlines the event, which includes No. 6 Pepperdine, No. 8 Washington and No. 10 Ohio State. Conference USA champion and No. 13 Tulane, and league rival East Carolina also dot the field. Ohio Valley Conference champion and in-state rival Jacksonville State will also be competing.
Mangan was named First Team All-Conference USA after a senior season in which she recorded a average of 75.31 strokes per round. She had 10 top-20 and seven top-10 finishes on the year and a pair of individual tournament titles as well, winning the John Kirk/Lady Panther Invitational at Georgia State in October and the Buffalo Rock Southern Shootout hosted by Birmingham-Southern in February.
The April 27th Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index has her rated No. 201 nationally with three wins over top-50 rated players and six victories over top-100 ranked individuals. Mangan's individual head-to-head win-loss record on the year, according to the ratings, is 598-103-12.
The NCAA East Regional will feature live scoring on the Internet at www.golfstat.com.
