April 2, 2015
GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Kentucky women’s golf team will compete in its last tournament of the regular season this weekend before the Southeastern Conference Championships when it makes its seventh all-time appearance at the Bryan National Collegiate in Greensboro, N.C., hosted by No. 13 Wake Forest and UNC-Greensboro.
“After a short turnaround at home, we are heading out on the road again,” head coach Golda Johansson Borst said. “I’m excited about this tournament because it’s one of my favorite events from when I played college golf. The event is sponsored by the Bryan Foundation and it’s played at a great, yet challenging golf course. You have to have all types of shots in your bag and it will be another good test for our players. This will be a good field for us to play in as we prepare to play in the SEC Championship a couple weeks from today.”
This weekend’s field consists of 18 teams, including five of the top 20 teams in the nation in No. 9 Northwestern, No. 12 Virginia, No. 13 Wake Forest, No. 18 Vanderbilt and No. 19 Florida. On top of the five highly ranked foes, 11 of the 18 teams competing are in the top 50.
Play will begin at 8:20 a.m. ET on Friday and end on Sunday. All rounds will be played on the Champions Course at the Bryan Park Golf and Enrichment Center.
Kentucky will go with the lineup of sophomore Haley Mills, freshmen Grace Rose and Isabelle Johansson, and juniors Sarah Harris and Cylia Damerau.
The Wildcats are coming off a 13th-place finish at the LSU Tiger Golf Classic, held March 27-29 in Baton Rouge, La. Mills led the way for Kentucky, finishing with a two-under-par performance on the final day of competition and an eight-over-par overall score of 224 to finish in a tie for 16th.
Rose, who had her highest career finish last weekend, also fired a 73, which was her lowest round of the spring and second lowest in her career.
For Damerau, it will be her first appearance in a tournament since the UCF Challenge — the spring’s first tournament. It will also be Johannson’s first tournament since the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate.
UK made its first appearance at this event in 1998, with its 2015 showing marking the first for the Wildcats since 2012 when they finished inside the top 15 in 13th. Overall, UK has six top-15 finishes at the Bryan National Collegiate, including two in the top 10. Kentucky had its highest finish at this tournament in 2000, finishing in ninth place with a total score of 939 (75-over-par). The highest individual finish for the Wildcats came in 2002 with Towa Okiyama finishing in a tie for sixth place.
The Champions Course will be set up at 6,386 yards and par 72. Course conditions seem to be challenging again, as no team finished under par in last year’s event. Fans can follow along all weekend at GolfStat.com.
After the even, the Wildcats will break for just less than two weeks before traveling to Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala., for the SEC Championships on April 17-19.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow @UKWomensGolf on Twitter and on the web at UKathletics.com.
