FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Coach Shauna Estes-Taylor is a closer.
She doesn’t concern herself as much with how her women’s golf team plays during the season than how the Razorbacks play when it counts the most. That has shown this year as Arkansas tries to finish a rather mundane regular season with a postseason flourish.
Arkansas enters the NCAA Central Regional today after a second-place finish at the SEC Championships on April 20-22. Before the conference tournament, Arkansas’ best showing had been a fourthplace finish at the Puerto Rico Classic in February, while the rest of the year had seen middling results.
The Razorbacks will have tough competition at the 24-team regional, which will be played at the Ohio State University Golf Club’s Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio. The top eight teams advance to nationals, and Arkansas will have to best a field that includes nine of the top 25 teams in the country.
“I preach hard work pays off,” Estes-Taylor said. “This group has put in a lot of effort and work. We hope to be playing our best golf when it means the most. People remember what you do in the postseason.”
The Razorbacks’ conference result proved to be both disappointing and motivational. Arkansas had a home-course advantage since the tournament was held at its home course, Blessings in Fayetteville, but the SEC field had five of the nation’s top 10 teams.
Arkansas had a chance for the victory but shot 11 over par over its last three holes to finish second, one stroke behind Auburn. The Razorbacks got strong performances from sophomores Emily Tubert and Emma Lavy, who finished third and sixth individually.
“We chose to view what we did at SEC as a good thing,” Estes-Taylor said. “We took a lot of positives. A loss like that builds character.
“This group is young and resilient, and you have to love that about them. They were quick to get back up.”
Arkansas will rely on its sophomores to lead them, and both of them had SEC performances that included highlights and disappointments. Tubert had a terrible — for her — first round but recovered to finish third, while Lavy shot an 83 in the final round and was 6 over on her last six holes.
“Your leaders rise to the occasion,” Estes-Taylor said. “Emily and Emma will definitely take the team where we need to go. They are prepared and ready.”
The Razorbacks have an opportunity to prove that their SEC showing wasn’t a fluke, a quirk of knowing the difficult Blessings course better than their competition. Estes-Taylor knows the Scarlet Course well, having played on it as a player in the national championships in 2000 and coaching the Razorbacks there in 2006.
“It’s a championship golf course,” Estes-Taylor said. “We’ve done a lot of research, and we’ll come up with a game plan. It’s challenging, and that’s what we play on every day at Blessings.”
Estes-Taylor doesn’t concern herself with the national rankings, either. Her team proved that at the SEC tournament when it finished ahead of every other ranked team, other than No. 5 Auburn, which won its second consecutive conference title.
Arkansas is hopeful for a similar performance at regionals.
“I look at this team as a top team,” Estes-Taylor said. “If we fire, we can compete with anybody.”
NCAA Central Regional
WHO 24 women’s teams vying for eight spots in national tournament. WHEN Today-Saturday WHERE Columbus, Ohio COURSE Ohio State University Golf Course, Scarlet Course LAYOUT 6,244 yards, par 72 ABOUT ARKANSAS The No. 34 Razorbacks are led by sophomores Emily Tubert and Emma Lavy, who finished third and sixth, respectively, at the SEC Championships.
Sports, Pages 24 on 05/10/2012