University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: Women's Golf Grabs Highest Ranking Ever
10/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Steven Bartolotta, October 6, 2009, 4:41 p.m.
There must be something in the water over at the golf offices these days. Two weeks after the men's team achieved its best ranking in nearly six seasons the women's golf team went one step further. North Texas is ranked 77th in the country, which is the highest ranking they have ever received since....well since women's golf rankings were kept starting in 1999.
http://www.golfweekrankings.com/ellington/default.asp?t=wt&page=1
Your first reaction. North Texas has a women's golf team? They do and a good one that Jeff Mitchell has been rebuilding the last 24 months. Mitchell arrived at North Texas after posting some serious skins on the wall. Here is a guy who's resume reads like so. For PGA Tour golfer (yes, I said golfer, not caddy), former coach at Texas Tech, Stanford, and teaching professional the TPC Craig Ranch. The dude knows golf and how to teach it.
The women's golf program at North Texas, with a few exceptions, has been dormant. Mitchell sees no reason that can't be changed and his experience is paying off. When he arrived the cupboard wasn't exactly bare either.
A core of golfers led by senior's Maggie Noel, and Janna Golden were in place. Success didn't come until late last season. I'm talking the last round of golf they played. An otherwise uneventful SBC Championship had just wrapped up and the Mean Green finished in seventh place.
However they finished with a 295 that day, which was the best round of golf played by a women's team in nearly a decade. Confidence soared. After a chance to host a tourney was washed away to start the year, the girls opened the season in Denver against a strong field and came away with even more confidence.
This program has never won a conference title or advanced to the NCAA Championship. That's not likely to end this season, check out where Denver is ranked in the nation right now. However an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship isn't out of the question if North Texas can keep its ranking high and keep beating top 100 and even top 50 teams.
The 77th ranking in the second best in the SBC, behind Denver, and the first time the Mean Green has cracked the top 100 since 2000-01. How long ago was that? Tiger Woods only had five major wins in his career at that point, Bill Clinton was finishing up his final few days in office, and gas prices were 1.27 a gallon.
No doubt, it's early, real early in the season. It's a small step for a program still learning how to win and taste success, but a ranking worth checking in on as the year goes by.
