LEXINGTON, Ky.?The University of Kentucky women?s golf team returns to the links for the final tournament of its fall slate at the UA-Ann Rhoads Intercollegiate hosted by the University of Alabama, Friday-Sunday.
Of the 18-team field, 11 of the teams are ranked in the top-50 in the country by Golfweek, including Kentucky at No. 49. Nine Southeastern Conference teams will also be among the field of contenders. The teams competing are: #14 Alabama, #7 Arkansas, #6 Auburn, Central Florida, #5 Florida, #33 Florida State, Furman, Kansas, #49 Kentucky, #24 LSU, #39 Louisville, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Northwestern, #20 Notre Dame, Samford, #31 South Carolina, and #35 Texas.
Alabama hosts the tournament after a two-season lay off. The tournament was last played in 2005 with the host team taking the tournament crown. The field will play on the NorthRiver Golf Course, a Par 71 course that covers 5,963 yards. The tournament format is a three-day tournament of 54 holes. On Friday and Saturday tee times will begin at 8:00 a.m. CDT, with a shotgun start taking place on Sunday at 8:40 a.m. CDT.
Kentucky returns to action after a welcomed two-week layoff. In the lineup for the Wildcats this weekend is junior Mallory Blackwelder who leads the team with two top-10 individual finishes in three tournaments this fall. Sophomore Erica Still, freshmen Louise Ljungstedt and Emma Eksell, and senior-captain Beth Felts round out the lineup. Eksell will make her collegiate debut in Alabama.
Head Coach Myra Blackwelder, in her first season at the helm at UK, has already enjoyed tremendous success. In her coaching debut she led her squad to a school-best 290 opening round at the Mason Rudolph Invitational. The team began the season unranked in the Golfweek polls, but has since steadily been among the nation?s top-50 teams after finishing 14th at the Mason Rudolph. Additionally, Blackwelder led a top-five team finish when the Wildcats posted a fourth place finish in their home event in late September.
Complete results of this weekend?s action can be found at www.ukathletics.com. Live results are available at www.golfstat.com.