This has to be the favorite time of the college golf season for the University of Denver women’s team, a veritable Christmas in April.
The Pioneers have known nothing but success in their conference tournaments for the last decade, having put together an amazing run of 10 consecutive conference team titles.
They’ve won in the Sun Belt Conference (nine times), they’ve won in the Western Athletic Conference (once) and this week coach Lindsay (Hulwick) Kuhle’s squad will take aim at the Summit League crown, which will be decided from Monday through Wednesday (April 21-23) in Keller, Texas.
Kuhle (pictured above), the 2005 CWGA Stroke Play winner, has been involved in most of DU’s run of conference championship dominance, having been an assistant coach or associate head coach under Sammie Chergo for seven of the victories before taking the Pioneers to the WAC title last year as a rookie head coach.
And DU has not only claimed team victories at conference championships during the last decade. The Pioneers have also won six individual titles during that span: Emily Hoeper (2005), Stephanie Sherlock (2007 and 2008), Kimberly Kim (2010), Rachael Watton (2012) and Tonje Daffinrud (2013).
Daffinrud, then a junior, ran away with the WAC title a year ago, winning by six strokes. And before departing the DU program later this spring, she’ll try to make it two in a row, this time in the Summit League. She owns a 72.05 season-long stroke average — the best among league players by almost three shots — and has posted top-eight finishes in each of her last five stroke-play events. Daffinrud is ranked 15th in the nation among women collegians by Golfstat and 24th by Golfweek.
“I would love to win Summit League titles both as a team and as an individual,” Daffinrud said. “A win would give myself and the team great confidence going into the NCAA Regionals and ideally, into the NCAA Championships.”
Should Denver claim the Summit League title, it will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA regionals.
There are eight teams in the Summit League tournament, mostly from the Midwest, but DU placed first in the preseason league polls, both on the women’s and men’s sides. In fact, Denver ranks among the top 45 women’s teams in the nation. And DU claimed all five spots on the all-league women’s first team (Daffinrud, Mariell Bruun, Elyse Smidinger, Isabel Southard and Watton), a first in Summit League history.
All nine NCAA Division I golf programs in the state (five men’s and four women’s) will compete in their conference championships over the next week.
Here’s the schedule, noting the Colorado-based schools playing:
April 20-22 — Big Sky Women in Chandler, Ariz. (Northern Colorado)
April 21-23 — Summit League Men in Tyler, Texas (Denver)
April 21-23 — Summit League Women in Keller, Texas (Denver)
April 24-26 — Mountain West Women in Rancho Mirage, Calif. (Colorado State)
April 25-27 — Pac-12 Men in Marana, Ariz. (Colorado)
April 25-27 — Pac-12 Women in Corvallis, Ore. (Colorado)
April 25-27 — Mountain West Men in Tucson, Ariz. (Colorado State and Air Force)
April 25-27 — America Sky Men in Angels Camp, Calif. (Northern Colorado)
Here’s a rundown:
April 20-22 — Big Sky Women in Chandler, Ariz.
Notable — Northern Colorado is ranked 210th/211th among the nation’s Division I women’s teams. … UNC, the 2012 champion, finished third in the 2013 Big Sky Championship. … Since-graduated Carleigh Silvers was UNC’s top individual last year, placing fifth. … Colorado Springs resident Paige Crawford, who plays for Montana State, is defending her conference title this week after winning by seven strokes last year.
April 21-23 — Summit League Men in Tyler, Texas
Notable — Denver, ranked 127th/131st in the nation, won its opener and notched one other top-five finish this season. … Senior Oskar Arvidsson leads Denver in season-long scoring average with 72.47. He has one win and three other top-10s this season. … Joining Arvidsson on the all-league first team is teammate Ole Ramsnes. … Arvidsson finished fifth individually at the Western Athletic Conference Championships last year. … DU placed seventh in the 10-team conference race in 2013.
April 21-23 — Summit League Women in Keller, Texas
Notable — See story above.
April 24-26 — Mountain West Women in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Notable — Colorado State recorded one top-five finish during the regular season, a fourth-place showing at the Rainbow Wahine Invitational. The Rams are ranked 122th/129th in the nation. … Emily Roering owns the team’s top scoring average at 76.9, having posted one top-five finish. … Colorado State finished seventh in last year’s eight-team MWC tournament. … Roering led the way for CSU individually, placing 19th.
April 25-27 — Pac-12 Men in Marana, Ariz.
Notable — This tournament is unusual in that it’s a 72-hole event, with the best five scores from six players each day counting toward the team total. … Colorado has posted seven top-four team finishes this season, including in each of its last four tournaments. The Buffs are ranked 53rd/59th in the country. … German twins Jeremy Paul (72.03) and Yannik Paul (72.63), both freshmen, lead CU in season stroke average. Paul won a tournament this spring and is ranked 126th in the nation by Golfstat and 174th by Golfweek. … Colorado finished 10th in last year’s Pac-12 Championships. … The Buffs put one player in the top 25 individually in 2013 as Philip Juel-Berg placed 24th.
April 25-27 — Pac-12 Women in Corvallis, Ore.
Notable — Colorado has recorded two top-three finishes this season and is ranked 47th/58th in the nation. … Senior Jennifer Coleman leads the team in stroke average at 74.0. She’s finished in the top three individually in two of her last three tournaments and ranks 107th/121st in the country. … Coleman placed third individually against a very strong field in last year’s conference championship. … As a team, the Buffs ended up ninth in 2013.
April 25-27 — Mountain West Men in Tucson, Ariz.
Notable — Air Force Academy senior Kyle Westmoreland has notched five top-seven finishes this season, including a victory at the season-opening Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational. He ranks third in the Mountain West Conference in scoring average at 71.7. Nationally, Westmoreland is 109th in the country according to Golfstat. … Junior Cameron Harrell leads the way for CSU in stroke average at 72.24. … Air Force has won two tournaments this season, the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational and the Snowman Getaway. … CSU is ranked 103rd/104th in the nation, while Air Force is 137th/142nd. … Air Force finished fourth and Colorado State placed fifth in the nine-team 2013 conference championships. … Westmoreland was the top local individual in 2013, finishing eighth.
April 25-27 — America Sky Men in Angels Camp, Calif.
Notable — Northern Colorado has posted three top-three team finishes this season, including a win at the Border Olympics. … The Bears are ranked 152nd/153rd in the country. … In the last five tournaments, five UNC players have finished in the top two individually, with Ben Krueger doing so twice, Steven Kupcho twice and Conner Barr once. … Krueger, a Colorado Springs resident, placed third individually last year at the conference tournament. … UNC ended up fifth in the 12-team America Sky field last year.
