University of Tennessee Athletics
GOLF'S VIOLETA RETAMOZA NABS LADY VOL WEEKLY HONOR
November 05, 2002 | Women's Golf
Nov. 5, 2002
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
After becoming the first Lady Vol golfer to capture two tournament medals in a single season with triumphs at the Lady Kat Invitational and the Auburn Tiger Derby, freshman Violeta Retamoza (Aguascalientes, Mexico) was chosen as the Lady Vol Athlete of the Week for the first time in her career in a vote taken by the media relations staff. The rookie edged out junior soccer forward Rhian Wilkinson (Baie d'Urfe, Quebec), senior Sharon Dickie (Grand Blanc, Mich.) of the cross country team, senior swimmer Bethany Hall (Knoxville, Tenn.), volleyball setter Julie Knytych (LaGrange Park, Ill.) and rowing's Varsity 4+ boat of Erin Artz (cox), Nicole Bold, Lauren Wells, Chelsea Pemberton and Dana Forbes for the honor.
"I'm very proud of Violeta." Pavon said. "She's an unbelievably strong player both physically and mentally."
The freshman phenom becomes the first member of Head Coach Judi Pavon's squad to earn the department's weekly honor this fall by notching her initial weekly award in only her second nomination. Retamoza also tied former UT player Katharina Larsson for the most tourney medals by a Lady Vol golfer after defeating Auburn's Celeste Troche in a playoff at the Tiger Derby. She blew away the rest of the competition over the last two days of the tournament with a pair of under-par rounds (70, 67) to come-from-behind after tying for 21st after the first round. Her three-day total (74-70-67) of 211 is the second-best 54-hole total in UT history. That performance, along with the quality of competition against which it occurred, vaulted Retamoza 20 slots into fourth-place in the nation, based on the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index ratings.
The standout is in the process of rewriting UT's record books as she fired a 67 in the third round of the Auburn Tiger Derby to move into a third-place tie, a duo of 36-hole 144s (Lady Kat and Tiger Derby) that tie for 11th, a 13th-place tying three rounds of par-or-under in a single season and is just seven hundredths of a percent off of Young-A Yang's 2000-01 record 73.06 stroke average with a 73.13.
The No. 8 Lady Vol golf squad opens up its spring season Feb. 10-12, 2003 in Los Angeles, Calif., at the Regional Challenge hosted by The Ohio State University.
