KICKING OFF 2011:
The James Madison women's golf team will begin its 2010-11 spring
season at the Edwin Watts/Kiawah Island Classic, Feb. 20-22, 2011, in Kiawah
Island, S.C. The tournament, hosted by the College of Charleston, is a
three-day, 54-hole event played on two courses at Kiawah Island Resort--the
Cougar Point Golf Course (Par 72 / 6,001 yards) and the Oak Point Golf Course
(Par 72 / 5,907 yards).
FULL SPRING
:
The Dukes have a full slate of tournaments this spring, with at
least six tournaments on the horizon, including three during the month of
March. After the season-opener in Kiawah Island, JMU will play three
tournaments in 17 days as it travels to Gainesville, Fla., Mar. 6-7 for the
SunTrust Gator Invitational, hosts the JMU/Eagle Landing Invitational in
Jacksonville, Fla., Mar. 11-13, and plays in the John Kirk/Panther
Intercollegiate in Stockbridge, Ga., Mar. 21-22. The Dukes will then head to
Wallace, N.C., for the UNCW Lady Seahawk Classic, Apr. 4-5 before traveling to
storied Pinehurst, N.C., for the CAA Women's Golf Championship, Apr. 22-24.
COACH GOODEN WEIGHS IN:
When asked about the upcoming spring season,
Head Coach Paul Gooden
was optimistic. "We are having a terrific start
to our season," Gooden said. "Attitudes are good and all the girls are working
very hard."
According to Gooden, most
of the season will be focused on peaking at the CAA Championship, Apr. 22-24.
"Yes, we want to play well in each tournament, but we're working on getting
better," Gooden said. "We're gaining more confidence through playing in each of
these earlier events."
LAST TIME WE SAW THEM:
In their final fall tournament, the Dukes fired
a final round of 308, good for third-best of the day, to move up three spots
and finish in eighth place out of 17
teams in the 2010 Lady Paladin Invitational at the Furman University Golf
Course in Greenville, S.C., Oct. 29-31.
JMU finished the
tournament with a score of 952 (316-328-308). Chatanooga shot a 915
(305-308-302) to take first place by 14 strokes over second-place Georgia
State's 929 (302-320-307).
Leading the way for the
Dukes were junior Nicole Sakamoto
(Honolulu, Hawaii/Kalani) and freshman
Ginger Mak
(Hong Kong, China). Sakamoto, a First-Team All-CAA selection
last spring, carded a 15-over 231 (76-77-78) to finish in a tie for eighth, her
first top-10 finish of the year. Mak recorded a final-round 73, tied for the
best of the day, to finish with a 16-over 232 (81-78-73) in 13th place.
Senior Laura Mesa
(Manizales, Colombia/Colegio Granadino) was next in 59th at 246, one shot ahead
of junior teammate Catrin Gunnarsson
(Bankeryd, Sweden/Sanda Gymnasiet)
in a tie for 60th at 247. Freshman teammate Sara Stanley
(Chantilly,
Va./Westfield) finished out the team scoring in a tie for 76th at 253.
Playing as an individual,
senior Mary Chamberlain
(Dennis, Mass./Suffield Academy) tied for 34th
at 239.
FALL IN REVIEW:
The fall of 2010 was
a season of experimenting for the Dukes, as Head Coach Paul Gooden
used
three different lineups over the course of four tournaments. Only junior Nicole
Sakamoto
and senior Catrin Gunnarson
played every round for JMU.
While the Dukes did not
finish better than eighth in any of their four fall tournaments, all seven
members of the team finished the fall with a scoring average of 80.1 or below.
All seven Dukes also recorded at least one round of 75 or lower.
Freshman Ginger Mak
led the Dukes in scoring average in her first collegiate season, carding a 76.9
average in eight rounds played this past fall. Mak was also the only Duke to
fire a 73 on two occasions, doing so once in the first round of the
Mercedes-Benz Women's Collegiate Championship in Knoxville, Tenn., and then
again in the final round of the season at the Lady Paladin Invitational in
Greenville, S.C.
Sakamoto also continued
her solid play from the 2009-10 season, finishing the fall just behind Mak with
a 77.3 average over four tournaments. Her career average rose slightly to 76.7,
but remains the lowest on the team as of the end of the fall season. Sakamoto
also recorded her first top-10 finish of the 2010-11 season, and the only one
of the fall for the Dukes, by firing a 231 (76-77-78) at the Lady Paladin
Invitational to tie for eighth.
RETURNING ALL-CAA GOLFERS:
James Madison returns two All-CAA golfers
from the 2009-10 season in junior Nicole Sakamoto
(Honolulu,
Hawaii/Kalani) and senior Catrin Gunnarsson
(Bankeryd, Sweden/Sanda
Gymnasiet). There is also a third All-CAA golfer in the lineup as
redshirt-senior
Mary Chamberlain
(Dennis, Mass./Suffield Academy) earned
the honor in 2008-09.
NEW PRACTICE FACILITY OPENS:
JMU
opened its new outdoor short-game practice facility this fall. The facility
includes designated chipping and putting greens, with fairway, rough and sand
traps for practice. This facility adds to the indoor practice facility, with
video replay/analysis capabilities, and both programs receiving new locker room
space in Godwin Hall.
SAKAMOTO
CAPTURES HAWAII STROKE PLAY TITLE:
Rising junior Nicole Sakamoto
(Honolulu, Hawaii/Kalani)
continued her solid play from the 2009-10 collegiate season and captured the
2010 Hawaii State Women's Stroke Play Championship this past summer at
Mid-Pacific Country Club in Kailua, Hawaii. Sakamoto won the tournament by five
shots with a 54-hole total of 3-over 219, five shots better than Mariel
Galdiano at 224.
A native of Honolulu,
Sakamoto was steady throughout the tournament, including shooting an even-par
72 in the final round to take her first major Hawaii women's title. The
three-day total was the lowest winning score in five years and ended a streak
of a combined five top-five finishes in the tournament and the Jennie K.
without a win, as well as her 2008 loss in the final of the state Women's Match
Play Championship.
Sakamoto entered the final
round trailing Galdiano by four shots, but Sakamoto tied for the low final
round with her 72, while the youngster faded down the stretch to shoot 81 and
finish as runner-up at 8-over 224.
CHAMBERLAIN NAMED NGCA All-AMERICAN SCHOLAR:
Senior women's golfer Mary
Chamberlain
(Dennis, Mass./Suffield Academy) was named to the 2010 National
Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) All-American Scholar Team, as announced by the
organization. She was among 494 women's collegiate golfers at the Division I,
II & III levels honored with this award for their work in the classroom and
on the course.
After missing most of the
2008-09 season, Chamberlain bounced back to play in all 11 Madison tournaments,
finishing second on the team with a 76.3 stroke average in 30 rounds played,
earning a place on the All-Colonial Athletic Assocation second team. She carded six rounds below 75, including
shooting a career-low 70 twice. She
finished in the top five three times and in the top 20 six times, including a
season-best tie for second at Tina Barrett Invitational in April. She also
placed sixth at the 2010 CAA Championship, finishing at 232, to help the Dukes
to a runner-up team finish.
Entering her final season
with the Dukes, Chamberlain carries a 3.52 cumulative GPA. She is a Justice Studies major with a
concentration in Criminology.
A VETERAN LINEUP DOTS THE 2010-11 SQUAD:
The Dukes return all five
starters from last year's CAA Championships to this year's squad. The team is
led by 2010 All-CAA honorees junior Nicole Sakamoto
(Honolulu,
Hawaii/Kalani) and senior Catrin Gunnarsson
(Bankeryd, Sweden/Sanda
Gymnasiet), as well as seniors Mary Chamberlain
(Dennis, Mass./Suffield
Academy) and Laura Mesa
(Manizales, Colombia/Colegio Granadino) and
junior Valentina Sanmiguel
(Bogota, Colombia/Gimasio La Montana). They
will be pushed for spots in the lineup
by two freshman in Ginger Mak
(Hong Kong, China) and Sara
Stanley
(Chantilly, Va./Westfield).
The team is also a blend
of international flavor, with three Americans (Chamberlain, Sakamoto and
Stanley) alongside two South Americans (Mesa and Sanmiguel), one European (Gunnarsson) and one Asian (Mak)
HEAD COACH PAUL GOODEN:
Head Coach Paul
Gooden
is starting his 12th season as the women's golf head coach of the
Dukes. During his tenure as head coach, Madison has captured three Colonial
Athletic Association Championships and earned a team berth in the 2005 NCAA
East Regional. This past season, one of his golfers, Nicole Sakamoto, became
the first JMU golfer to earn two individual berths to the NCAA Regionals.
