FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                          March 1, 2005 

RANGER GOLFERS IN ALVA EXHIBITION MATCH ON MARCH 10

Local college golf fans who would like to see a few of the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers in action may attend an exhibition golf match at the Alva Golf and Country Club Thursday, March 10, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

The match has been billed as “Europe vs. United States” and will pit Ranger golfer Peter McGibney, Dublin, Ireland, freshman, and Emma Lister, a highly recruited high school golfer from Lancashire, England, as the European players against Ranger golfers Sarah Alfred, Tulsa freshman, and Nathan Beam, Enid sophomore.

McGibney is the former captain of the high school team that won the Irish national championship in match play and placed second in stroke play. Alfred was the second place medalist in two fall women’s golf tournaments, and Beam was picked by the women’s team to play with Alfred.

Following the match at approximately 5:30 p.m., Dr. Randy Kilbourne, golf team coach, said that pizza would be provided for everyone to join in eating, bragging and making excuses.

The Ranger men’s first regular college action this semester will be Sunday through Tuesday at the Tanglewood Resort in Pottsboro, Texas. The match is hosted by Texas A & M, Commerce.

The first tournament for the Ranger women will be March 13 and 14 at the Dodge City (Kansas) Country Club, which will be hosted by Dodge City Community College.

Kilbourne also announced that the women's golf team is currently looking for women golfers who would like to play for the team this spring and next fall. Anyone interested should contact him by phone at (580) 327-8505, by e-mail at jrkilbourne@nwosu.edu, or by regular mail to the Northwestern Athletic Department.

In past action, the Northwestern Ranger golf team traveled to the Oak Tree Golf Course in Edmond on Feb. 21 to practice on one of the top golf courses in the world in preparation for the opening of the spring tournament season. The Oak Tree course was the site of the 1988 PGA golf tournament and will be the site of the Champion's Tour PGA in 2006.  Kilbourne said arrangements for such a rare opportunity in college golf were made by Northwestern alumnus Eddie Ritterhouse of Edmond, who currently works for British Petroleum. 

Kilbourne said the first-year Ranger golf teams for men and women experienced emotional highs and lows in their first season of competition last fall, placing second in the four- year college team competition for both men and women in a tournament that the Rangers hosted at Angel Fire, N.M. 

Alfred was the women's second place medalist and won the long drive contest with a drive of 310 yards. Women golfers Amber Gilchrist, Wichita, Kan., freshman; Sarah Haggard, Oklahoma City freshman; Heidi Nida, Alva sophomore, and Alisha Wilcoxson, Alva senior, also shot some of their best scores. 

On the men’s side at Angel Fire, Jeff Soper, Estherville, Iowa, junior, and Curtis McCoy, Enid sophomore, wound up tied for the men's medalist trophy as dark set in on the last day of the tournament. Soper won the title in a later 18-hole playoff at the Alva Golf and Country Club course.

Both men's and women's teams also placed second at the Oklahoma Panhandle State University tournament at Sunset Hills in Guymon where Ranger golfer Luke McCoy, Alva freshman, shot 70 in one of his rounds. As a low point in the fall season, the men's team placed in the bottom half of its last tournament at the Oklahoma Christian University tournament in Edmond, leaving the team anxious to improve this spring.

Kilbourne said McGibney and Soper were key anchor players in all Ranger men's action during the fall.

-NW-

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