May 23, 1998

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The rest of the field at the NCAA Division I women's golf championship crowded into the University Ridge clubhouse, waiting out an hour-long rainstorm by eating pizza and bagels.

Jennifer Rosales, Southern California's 19-year-old freshman from the Philippines who was atop the leaderboard at the time, was too nervous to eat. She opted for some motherly advice. "I called my mother in Manila. She calmed me down," said Rosales, who went on to win the title by three strokes over Tulsa sophomore Christina Kuld.

Rosales shot a par round of 72 Saturday and finished with a 9-under-par 279 total in just her sixth collegiate tournament.

Despite freshman Grace Park's free fall from consecutive record-tying 65s on the first two days of the 72-hole medal play tournament, Arizona State won its second straight team title and fifth in six seasons.

"I am happy for the team," Park said. "But it is very hard to celebrate."

Behind senior Kellee Booth's steady play, ASU finished with a 3-over total of 1,115, 17 strokes better than surprising Florida, which overcame a disappointing ninth-place finish at the Southeastern Conference championship and the resignation of coach Kim Haddow last month.

Under interim coach Kelly Myers, the Gators finished fifth in the East Regional and fared better than 17 of the other 18 teams at the championship.

Arizona was third in the team competition, 18 strokes behind the rival Sun Devils. Duke was fourth, 24 strokes back.

Rosales figured she was through when she bogeyed the first three holes Saturday.

"I thought it was the end of the world," confessed Rosales, who enrolled at USC just last January after becoming academically eligible.

Rosales, who frequently reached into her pocket to rub a miniature statuette of the Virgin Mary, birdied No. 5 to get back on track. Her low round coming into the tournament was a 73, which she matched Friday and surpassed three times at the University of Wisconsin's bent grass course.

"I kind of felt like she's been our secret weapon," coach Andrea Gaston said. "Even when we were recruiting her, we kind of kept it quiet."

That will be impossible now. Rosales plans to return next year to try to become the first repeat champion in the history of the NCAA championship. "I have no plans to turn professional right now," Rosales said. "I have too much left to learn."

Rosales held a one-stroke lead over Kuld when the sirens sounded at mid-afternoon, indicating lightning and forcing the field of 99 golfers inside.

Park, a 19-year-old from Seoul and the nation's top-ranked collegiate player, finished four strokes behind Rosales, her co-leader at the start of the final round.

"I am very disappointed," Park said after her 76. "I had never lost a lead. I was always proud of that - that I could take care of a lead."

Kuld, a 24-year-old sophomore from Denmark whose eligibility expired Saturday, finished with a 72 and 6-under 282 total on the 6,033-yard layout.

"I learned a lot in my two years, the language, golf, and I met a lot of great friends," said Kuld, who plans to turn pro in 1999.

Booth was fourth, six strokes back at 284, and was followed by Duke's Jenny Chuasiriporn at 285 and New Mexico's Ryley Webb and Florida's Sara Beautell, both at 287.

Team Scores
Arizona State                  277-288-290-300-1155
Florida                        285-296-288-304-1173
Arizona                        290-288-296-300-1174
Duke                           285-298-297-299-1179
LSU                            291-301-301-294-1187
Tulsa                          301-298-295-294-1188
Southern Cal                   299-291-298-305-1193
New Mexico                     294-304-301-300-1199
Stanford                       304-292-305-298-1199
Georgia                        296-295-303-307-1201
Texas                          301-304-303-293-1201
Ohio State                     294-299-310-305-1208
Indiana                        284-303-313-309-1209
Oregon                         310-294-312-297-1213
North Carolina                 290-309-307-308-1214
Oregon State                   298-307-308-312-1225
New Mexico St                  301-296-317-312-1226
Washington                     303-298-314-314-1229
Auburn                         295-314-309-313-1231

Individual Scores
Jennifer Rosales, USC          68-66-73-72-279
Christina Kuld, Tulsa          70-72-68-72-282
Grace Park, Arizona State      65-65-77-76-283
Kellee Booth, Arizona State    68-71-73-72-284
Jenny Chuasiriporn, Duke       65-72-74-74-285
Ryley Webb, New Mexico         68-70-77-72-287
Sara Beautell, Florida         68-75-70-74-287
Jenna Daniels, Arizona         72-70-75-73-290
Stephanie Keever, Stanford     75-70-73-73-291
Riko Higashio, Florida         72-76-70-72-292
Krissie Register, Arizona      74-73-71-74-292
Paula Patterson, Oregon        76-71-78-68-293
AJ Eathorne, New Mexico St     71-72-76-74-293
Julia Boros, Georgia           70-70-75-79-294
Ashley Winn, LSU               72-77-76-70-295
Shauna Estes, Georgia          74-76-74-71-295
Alicia Allison, Duke           72-74-74-75-295
Niina Laitinen, Tulsa          72-75-72-76-295
Ann Pohira, Florida            71-69-73-82-295
Erin Carney, Indiana           74-72-77-73-296
Marisa Baena, Arizona          74-71-75-76-296
JeanneMarie Busuttil, ASU      71-76-71-78-296
Laura Blessey, Texas           77-74-76-70-297
Michelle Louviere, LSU         73-72-76-76-297
Marcy Newton, North Carolina   71-76-76-75-298
Kathleen Takaishi, Oregon St   70-75-77-76-298
Robin Cook, Auburn             80-73-72-72-299
Keri Cornelius, Arizona State  73-76-76-74-299
Nicole Dalkas, USC             76-71-73-79-299
Jennifer Waterhouse, Texas     74-76-76-74-300
Hilary Homeyer, Stanford       77-71-77-75-300
Heather Graff, Arizona         70-78-75-77-300
Marisa Wilhelm, Ohio State     74-75-73-78-300
Laura Moore, LSU               79-77-73-72-301
JJ McCormick, New Mexico       76-76-76-73-301
Jae Jean Ro, Stanford          73-76-78-74-301
Maria Boden, Oklahoma State    71-78-78-74-301
Jenny Gray, Indiana            67-80-79-75-301
Kalen Anderson, Duke           73-78-76-75-302
Tui Selvaratnum, Arizona State 77-77-70-78-302
Shelley McKevitt, N Carolina   71-77-75-79-302
Filippa Hansson, Duke          75-74-79-75-303
Natalie Mosher, Ohio State     72-75-81-75-303
Elisha Au, Washington          71-74-82-76-303
Salimah Mussani, Texas         76-75-75-77-303
Sasha Medina, New Mexico St    74-73-78-78-303
Reilley Rankin, Georgia        74-74-76-79-303
Johanna Josefsson, USC         77-76-76-75-304
Lisa Strom, Ohio State         75-75-78-76-304
Kylie Wilson, Oregon           78-74-78-75-305
Lauren Jeske, Florida          74-78-76-77-305
Britney Holt, New Mexico       71-79-77-78-305
Bethany Overstake, Ohio State  74-74-78-79-305
Jill Gomric, Arizona           75-74-76-80-305
Filippa Helmersson, Tulsa      78-81-78-69-306
Marty Goldthorp, Auburn        74-79-75-78-306
Anjeanette Dabbs, Oregon St    73-76-76-81-306
Stacy Sewell, Texas            77-79-76-75-307
Karen Bristow, Oregon          77-72-80-78-307
Virginia Costa, Florida        77-76-75-79-307
Kathryn Cusick, Alabama        76-74-76-81-307
Anika Heuser, Oregon           79-77-76-76-308
Heather Kraus, Kentucky        76-78-75-79-308
Andrea Cordova, Washington     72-77-79-80-308
Kristen MacLaren, UTEP         75-73-80-80-308
Amie Lehman, Duke              76-78-73-81-308
Patricia White, North Carolina 76-81-75-77-309
Laura Henderson, Georgia       78-75-78-78-309
Rachel Duncan, New Mexico St   76-71-81-81-309
Lisette Lee, LSU               75-75-76-83-309
Amy Sands, Texas               74-80-82-74-310
Katy Wilkinson, LSU            71-83-80-76-310
Shelly Bonfantine, New Mexico  79-80-74-77-310
Megan Morgan, North Carolina   73-77-83-77-310
Jessica Belskis, Stanford      79-75-77-79-310
Michelle Hatfield, Indiana     80-72-78-80-310
Rachel Borcherts, Oregon St    81-78-78-75-312
Danielle La Voie, USC          78-79-76-79-312
Sami Montgomery, Indiana       71-79-81-81-312
Amber Amstutz, Ohio State      74-81-82-76-313
Angie Hopkins, New Mexico      79-79-74-81-313
Julia Smith, Washington        82-72-82-78-314
Katie Gallina, Auburn          72-84-79-79-314
Jennifer Seger, Indiana        72-82-79-81-314
Stacy Rambin, Tulsa            81-77-80-77-315
Paola Bellotti, Washington     78-82-75-80-315
Jennifer Stapleton, Washington 82-75-78-81-316
Lee Shirley, North Carolina    75-79-81-81-316
Julie Dunn, Stanford           79-79-83-76-317
Lisa Penske, Tulsa             84-74-77-82-317
Ida Danielsson, USC            78-78-79-82-317
Audrey Fisher, Auburn          72-80-83-82-317
Carina Olsson, Oregon State    76-78-77-86-317
Pam Sowden, Oregon             79-78-82-80-319
Kate Dunn, New Mexico St       80-80-82-79-321
Shannon Ogg, Georgia           79-80-82-83-324 
Kami Smith, Auburn             77-82-85-82-326
Anne Brooksby, Oregon State    79-89-86-80-334
Jennifer Gomez, New Mexico St. 90-91-95-91-367