FERRIS STATE WOMEN’S GOLFER TO COMPETE IN NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Junior Kathryn Bobbie (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/Sir James Dunn) of the Ferris State University women’s golf team has been selected to compete in the 2002 NCAA Division II Women’s Golf National Championships, which will be held May 15-18 at the The Meadows Golf Club in Allendale, Mich. Bobbie will join Longwood College’s (Va.) Amanda Diamond as the two East Regional individual qualifiers. The top two teams at each of the four regionals along with the top two individuals not with one of those teams advance to the championships. Top-ranked Florida Southern returns as the two-time defending national champions.

The championships, which are being hosted by Grand Valley State University, will consist of both team and individual competition conducted concurrently. All participants will compete throughout the entire 72 holes of competition with each round scheduled to start at 8 a.m. (EDT) and admission is free. In the team competition, the low four scores for each team will count in each day’s total score and the number of participants allowed at the finals is 48.

A 2000-01 National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) All-America First-Team honoree, Bobbie earned first-team All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) accolades for the second consecutive season and repeated as the top medalist at the 2002 GLIAC Championships (4/20-21) with a two-round 156 total (79-77–156) as the Bulldogs won the conference championship title. This season, Bobbie is averaging a team-leading 80.8 strokes per round (1,051 total strokes) in 13 rounds, which includes an individual best round of 75 at last weekend’s (5/3-4) NCAA-II East Regional in Perry Park, Ky.

A season ago, Bobbie was chosen the GLIAC Women’s Golfer of the Year and played an integral role in guiding Ferris State to a fifth-place team finish at the 2001 NCAA-II National Championships (5/16-19) in Rock Hill, S.C. She posted a team-high four-round 322-stroke total to place 10th individually. A 2001 NGCA All-America Scholar Team pick, Bobbie notched a school single-season record 79.9 stroke average in 26 rounds with a low round of 73 at the Tri-State Fall Invitational (10/22-23) in Angola, Ind.

For her FSU career, Bobbie has registered a 80.5-stroke average (4,267 total strokes) in 53 rounds. She has won or tied for first-place honors in eight invitationals. Bobbie compiled an 81.4 average (1,139 total strokes) in 14 rounds as a freshman in the 1999-00 campaign.

With the invitation, Bobbie will be participating in the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive year and is only the second individual in FSU women’s golf history to advance on an individual basis. She joins Amy Summers, who placed tied for 95th place of 102 golfers at the 1992 NCAA-I National Championships (5/27-30) in Tempe, Ariz. Summers carded a four-round total of 326 (82-85-82-77–326) at the national tourney.