To get to the 2000 NCAA womenβs golf championships you flew to Portland, Oregon, loaded your golf team in a van and headed southeast, two hours to the Crosswater Golf Club. You knew you were there when you crossed the Little Deschutes River.
It wasnβt in the middle of nowhere, but you could see it from there.
The NCAA decided to ditch the ββsame old, same oldββ championship venues. Itβs last four national titles had been determined on old-school courses in Tulsa, Wisconsin, Ohio and Los Angeles, so when the No. 1-ranked Arizona Wildcats arrived on the outskirts of Bend, Oregon, they were similarly determined to avoid the βsame old, same old.ββ
In the previous 10 NCAA finals, Arizonaβs powerful womenβs golf teams had finished, in order: fourth, seventh, third, second, 14th, 12th, first, third, third and fourth.
They were determined to win it all again.
Before second-year coach Todd McCorkleβs team reached the No. 1 tee on opening day, senior Jenna Daniels was named the Honda Award winner, emblematic of the top womenβs college golfer of 2000. She didnβt disappoint.
Over four days at the Crosswater Golf Club, Daniels won the individual national championship, beating teammate Julia Kraschinski, a freshman from New Zealand, by three strokes. The Wildcats dominated, taking a 28-stroke lead into the final round.
They slumped a bit, winning by βonlyββ 21 strokes over Stanford and 23 over Texas.
UA senior Jill Gomric was part of a Wildcats team that won the 2000 national championship by 21 shots.
βItβs hard to get a killer instinct when you have a 28-stroke lead,ββ said UA sophomore Cristina Baena, a Colombia native and younger sister of Arizonaβs 1996 NCAA champion Marisa Baena. A few days later, Baena was named a second-team All-American.
McCorkle, who had been head coach at Coastal Carolina before UA athletic director Jim Livengood hired him to be an assistant under Rick LaRose three years earlier, knew the power of his team.
βGoing in, I couldnβt imagine a better lineup, one through five, in college golf,ββ said McCorkle, who became the womenβs head coach after LaRose chose to return strictly to being the UA menβs golf head coach in 1999. βIt all worked out well.ββ
After the trophy presentation on a windy, chilly day in central Oregon, the five UA golfers β Daniels, Baena, Kraschinski, Christine Monteiro and Jill Gomric β all jumped into the Little Deschutes River. Standing nearby, McCorkle broke down and cried for joy.
UA golfer Cristina Baena was a second-team All-American in the 2000 title season.
Daniels, who was recruited out of Bonita Vista High School in San Diego by LaRose three years earlier, declining offers from UCLA and USC, became the fourth Wildcat female athlete of a 10-year period, 1991-2000, to win an NCAA Honda Award. She joined golfβs Annika Sorenstam, softballβs Nancy Evans and Jenny Dalton, and distance runner Amy Skieresz.
βSheβs irreplaceable,ββ said McCorkle, although his 2001 recruiting class included two future LPGA Tour winners, Lorena Ochoa and Natalie Gulbis.
But McCorkleβs stay was a brief one. Six weeks later, tempted by a larger salary offer by Georgia, which was much closer to his home state of Florida, McCorkle left to coach the Bulldogs. Incredibly, Georgia won the NCAA championship in McCorkleβs first season.
The UA finished No. 2 in the 2002 NCAA finals, coached by Greg Allen, continuing their status as one of Americaβs leading womenβs golf programs.
Daniels soon qualified for the LPGA Tour, but was unable to become a regular. She played through the 2007 LPGA Tour season, earning $340,000. While on the LPGA Tour, she married McCorkle, her UA coach.
The same year, McCorkle resigned as Georgiaβs head coach after he was accused of inappropriate behavior with some of Georgiaβs womenβs golfers. He has since been a teaching pro in Alabama and Texas.
