Aug. 2, 2007

IRVINE, Calif. --- The UC Irvine men's and women's golf programs rate high in all three categories of Golf Digest's rankings as part of the publication's third annual College Golf Guide. The Guide was established to assist high school golfers in their selections of colleges to attend.

The three rankings included in the 2007-08 Guide are: Balanced ranking, for students who place equal emphasis on school and sports; Golf First ranking, for students with aspirations of playing professional golf; Academics First ranking, for students who are focused on education but also desire to play competitive golf. The "Balanced" ranking is the best indicator for the majority of students wishing to play golf, according to Golf Digest.

The UCI women's program ranks 16th nationally in the "Balanced" category, 11th in "Golf First" and 27th in "Academics First." Duke is first in all three rankings.

The Anteater men's program is 20th in the "Balanced" ranking, 16th in "Golf First" and 35th in "Academics First." Stanford was No. 1 in all three categories.

UCI was the highest-rated Big West Conference school in all three women's rankings and was the top league university in two of the three men's ratings (Balanced and Golf First). Both Anteater programs won Big West titles in April.

Coach Julie Brooks' women's team finished fifth at the NCAA West Regional and 19th at the NCAA Finals.

Coach Paul Smolinski's men's squad advanced to the NCAA West Regional for the sixth time in the last seven years and placed 22nd.