Women's Golf Debuts at No. 13 in Golfweek Rankings

Jao-Javanil also named No. 4 player to watch by Golf World

Chirapat Jao-Javanil

NORMAN, Okla. - The University of Oklahoma women's golf team will tee off this fall as the 13th-ranked team in the country, as revealed by Golfweek.

The Sooners, who are also ranked 19th in the Golf World/National Golf Coaches Association preseason poll, return six golfers (all five regulars) from last season's squad that won the Big 12 Championship and finished sixth at the NCAA Championships (tied the program's best-ever national finish).

Over the past two years under head coach Veronique Drouin-Luttrell, OU has posted 14 top-five finishes in its 22 events, including 11 top-three showings and four team titles.

"As a team we have been ready to get back out there since May," said Drouin-Luttrell, who is starting her fourth year at OU. "Everyone put in a lot of time and effort all summer to get better. We all got a taste of being so close to the top by finishing sixth at the NCAA's, and we're excited to be back."

Leading the way for OU will be junior Chirapat Jao-Javanil, last year's NCAA champion. Jao-Javanil, who averaged 73.32 strokes per round last year, is No. 4 on Golf World's list of the top 50 female players to watch in 2012-13.

Also back for the Sooners are seniors Taylor Schmidt (75.38) and Jacki Marshall (76.89), and juniors Anne-Catherine Tanguay (74.65), Emily Collins (77.25) and Jade Staggs (78.67).

New to the OU program this year are junior Tennessee transfer Kaitlyn Rohrback (75.96) and freshman Amanda Johnson.

Oklahoma's fall season will open Sept. 24-26 at the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Wolcott, Colo. The Sooners won last year's 18-team event in Vail, Colo.