University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Open Spring in South Carolina
2/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Edwin Watts/Kiawah Island Classic: The Golden Gopher women's golf team will open their spring season in Kiawah Island, South Carolina at the Edwin Watts/Kiawah Island Classic hosted by the College of Charleston. The Gophers will play three rounds over three days, starting on Sunday, February 21st.
The two golf courses that will be used for the tournament will be the 6,007-yard, par 72 Cougar Point Golf Course and the 5,957-yard, par 72 Oak Point Golf Course. Each participating team will play one round at Oak Point and Cougar Point over the first two days and the top 20 teams after two rounds will play at Cougar Point the final day, while teams 21-35 will play at Oak Point.
The tournament field includes (Golfweek Ranking): Akron (120), Augusta State (93), Bucknell (171), Campbell (48), Central Arkansas (80), Charleston Southern (169), The Citadel (235), College of Charleston (85), Drake (108), East Carolina (73), East Tennessee State (50), Elon (94), Florida International (92), Illinois State (78), Jacksonville State (143), Kansas (75), Kennesaw State (72), Maryland (70), Mercer (180), Miami (Fla.) (133), Middle Tennessee State (128), Minnesota (65), Missouri State (83), Morehead State (106), Old Dominion (159), Oral Roberts (79), Oregon State (103), Richmond (146), South Carolina State (228), Southern Illinois (168), Toledo (110), USC Upstate (220), Western Carolina (74), Wichita State (115) and William & Mary (89).
Live scoring and results can be found at www.golfstat.com.
The Gophers: Minnesota's lineup will consist of juniors Michele Edlin, Mary Narzisi, Teresa Puga and Samantha Sommers and true freshman Jackie Shepherd. Edlin, Puga and Shepherd are now the only Gopher players to appear in all of the team's tournaments.
Heading in to the spring season, Puga leads the team with a 75.66 stroke average, followed by Shepherd (75.75) and Sommers (76.77).
Fall season Recap: The Gophers participated in four tournaments during the fall 2009 season and will look to improve as a team leading up to this year's Big Ten Championship in April and NCAA Regional Qualifier in May. Minnesota began the year with a 7th place finish at the Michigan State Invitational and 8th place finish at the Lady Northern Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin. In October, the Gophers posted a season-best 54-hole score of 910 to finish 5th at the Colorado Invitational in Boulder, Colorado. Minnesota also shot a season-best 297 in the first round. To finish off the fall season, the Gophers shot a 54-hole score of 916 to finish in 14th at the Las Vegas Invitational.
Up Next: The Gophers will be off until traveling to Phoenix to take part in the Rio Verde Invitational on March 5-7 at Rio Verde Country Club. Minnesota has been part of the Rio Verde field the last three seasons, including a third place finish in 2007. That weekend saw the Gophers establish a school record 54-hole score of 894.
Also, their second round score of 291 is tied for second all-time in the Gophers record book for lowest 18-hole round was the lowest score posted by the Gophers since they fired a 297 at the Minnesota Invitational in 1997. The club finished in a tie for ninth in 2006 and fifth last year.
Players Mentioned
