Huskies In the Desert for Sun Devil Winter Classic
SEATTLE – The University of Washington women's golf team returns to the course this week as it will head to the desert for the ASU Sun Devil Winter Classic. The three-day event will take place Monday-Wednesday, Feb. 15-17, at the par-72, 6,482 yard Talking Stick Golf Course in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Pac-12 loaded 10-team field will play 18 holes each day with a 5-count-4 scorecard daily.
Tournament: Sun Devil Winter Classic
Where: Talking Stick North Course – Pipaash Course; Par 72-, 6,482 yards
Teams: Arizona State, Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, USC, UCLA, WSU and Washington
Washington Lineup: Rino Sasaki, Camille Boyd, Stefani Deng, Martha Lewis, Brittany Kwon
Live Scoring: http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=2…
THE FIELD (Golf Channel Power Rankings: No. 2 USC, No. 4 Arizona State, No. 7 UCLA, No. 8 Arizona, No. 10 Stanford, No. 18 Oregon, No. 28 Washington, California, Colorado, Oregon State and WSU.
THE LINEUP: The Huskies will play senior Rino Sasaki, freshmen Camille Boyd and Stefani Deng, junior Martha Lewis and sophomore Brittany Kwon. Additionally, sophomore Winnie Ng will be competing as an individual.
LAST TIME OUT: Washington opened the 2021 spring season at the SMU Trinity Forest Invitational and finished tied for ninth with a 52-over 916. The Dawgs were led by sophomore Brittany Kwon who collected her third career top-25 finish as she tied for 23rd at the two-day, 54 hole event in Dallas. Washington put two freshmen in the lineup in Stefanie Deng and Camille Boyd and they tied for 35th and 43rd, respectively. Additionally, senior Rino Sasaki used her best score in the final round to tie for 30th while junior Martha Lewis tied for 63rd. It was the first event in over 300 days for the Huskies.
LAST SEASON'S SUCCESS: Washington is coming off a shortened season which saw the team take home three top five finishes and two individual titles. They finished the year with their best showing finishing third at the Juli Inkster Meadow Club Collegiate. Senior Rino Sasaki won the Pac-12 Preview in Hawaii during the 2019-20 season and led the Huskies with a 73.75 stroke average while adding four under-par rounds. Outgoing senior Karen Miyamoto also claimed victory, winning the season-opening WSU Cougar Cup.
WHAT'S BACK: The Huskies return senior Rino Sasaki, junior Martha Lewis, sophomores Brittany Kwon and Winnie Ng this season, who all saw significant action during the 2019-20 campaign. Sasaki has posted seven top 10 showings in her career as a Husky and led the Dawgs a year ago in stroke average (73.75). She was named the Pac-12 Golfer of the month for November of 2020 after she didn't finish lower than 13th in any of the four fall tournaments the Dawgs competed in. Kwon finished as high as tied for 11th a year ago while Lewis tied for 12th at the Cardinal Cup. Ng competed in five events a year ago and turned in a tie for 26th at the Cardinal Cup for her best showing of the year. Manhua Chen has not been able to return to the U.S. yet during the pandemic. Graduate student Wenyan Ma is also back for the Dawgs.
WHO'S NEW: Washington welcomes three newcomers to the squad this year in Camille Boyd (Shanghai), Stefanie Deng (Shanghai) and Adithi Anand (Redmond, Wash.). Boyd and Deng are both come from Shanghai while Boyd is originally from California. Deng racked up multiple top 10 finishes on the international circuit in China with her highest showing being a second-place effort at the Buick National Junior Classic in China. Boyd had many successes during her high school career, finishing second at the Wincraft/McArthur Towel & Sports Future Legends Classic. Anand won the Washington Junior Golf Association State Championship and finished eighth at the Eagle Crest Junior Championship before finishing ninth at the Pacific Northwest Junior Girls Amateur. She also placed 27th at the IMG Junior World Championships.
SPRING SCHEDULE: Head coach Mary Lou Mulflur's Huskies opened the spring campaign at the SMU Trinity Forest Invitational before heading to the desert for the ASU Sun Devil Winter Classic, Feb. 15-17. The Dawgs then will compete at the Bruin/Wave Invitational, March 1-3 in California before taking on the Juli Inkster Meadow Club Invitational, March 8-9. Up next is the Anuenue Spring Break Classic in Maui, March 22-24, before the Silverado Showdown in Napa, April 5-7. To close the spring season, Washington will compete at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque April 11-12. The Pac-12 Championships this year will be held in Stanford, April 23-25.