UK Women’s Golf Set to Host Bettie Lou Evans Invitational
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky women’s golf team will host the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational this weekend at the University Club of Kentucky. It will mark the first time the Wildcats have hosted a tournament since 2011.
Sixteen teams will compete Friday through Sunday at the U-Club’s Big Blue Course. Now in its 28th year of play and named after longtime UK head coach (1979 to 2001) and current director of operations (2002 to present) Bettie Lou Evans, the tournament will make a return after a six-year hiatus.
Admission is free and fans are encouraged to attend. Current weather forecasts for this weekend show highs in the 80s with only a slight chance for rain Sunday.
“I’m extremely proud (to be hosting), to be honest with you,” Kentucky head coach Golda Borst said. “We’ve had meetings for a year out knowing that we’re going to have this tournament, and I couldn’t be more thankful and proud of what the UK staff has put in and what the U-Club staff have put in. They have really put in the time and the effort and done everything in their power to get this golf course ready. I’m really excited to have all the teams show up this week and for us to showcase the U-Club and to showcase what golf is like in the Bluegrass.”
This weekend’s tournament will follow a Friday-Saturday-Sunday format with 18 holes slated for each round, plus a practice round Thursday. Play will begin each day at 9 a.m. ET with a shotgun start slated for Sunday’s finale.
Live scoring will be available throughout the weekend at GolfStat.com.
UK has won the tournament 11 times, including the last time it was held in 2011. Previously known as the Wildcat Fall Invitational before dedicating it to Evans, the tournament has been in existence since 1979. It was played every year until a four-year break from 1998 to 2001. There were also one-year breaks in 2007 and 2010 before the current six-year gap.
“I think it’s really important to remember the past,” Borst said. “Bettie Lou was the coach of the really, really good teams at Kentucky, and this is our way of honoring her. I think it’s hard for her to think of it that way – she’s very humble as a person – but I think it’s important. She’s done a lot and continues to do a lot for our program. Our girls love having her around, and she really enjoys being around them and pushing them. This is just our way of thanking her and making sure she understands how important she is to our program.”
This year’s field features a mix of local teams and postseason contenders. UK, along with Indiana, which will serve as a co-host, will welcome Akron, Ball State, Bradley, Cincinnati, Fresno State, Grand Canyon, Illinois, Illinois State, Murray State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Toledo, Western Kentucky and Wisconsin.
Four teams, including Kentucky, made NCAA regionals a season ago, but the Wildcats are the only team in the field that has won the Bettie Lou before. Borst is hoping to keep it that way this weekend after a seventh-place finish at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Every Wildcat posted a score of 76 or lower in the season-opening tournament.
“I feel really good about (our team),” Borst said. “I think in Knoxville we left a lot of shots out there. We could have finished a little stronger and gone under par the last day, so I think we learned a ton. We’re headed in a really positive direction with this group. We have 10 girls who are really pushing each other. Every single day we’re competing and we’re getting better.”
In a change-up from other tournaments on the road, all 10 players on the 2017-18 roster will compete this weekend. Seniors Grace Rose, Isabelle Johansson and Ale Walker, along with juniors Leonie Bettel and Claire Carlin will compete for UK’s team score. But in addition to those five, sophomores Josephine Chang, Zoe Collins and Sarah Shipley, and freshmen Claire Cameron and Sarah Fite will also compete as individuals.
Kentucky’s team’s lineup is stacked with experience and recent success. Johansson set the single-season stroke average last year at 73.3. Bettel set the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship 18-hole record two weeks ago with a 65. Meanwhile, Walker qualified for stage II of LPGA Qualifying School in August, Rose was arguably UK’s most consistent player in the spring and Carlin is playing the best golf of her career.
On the individual side, Shipley and Chang have combined to play in all but two tournaments in their career. Collins, Cameron and Fite will make their collegiate debuts this weekend.
“What’s exciting for me as a coach is this early in the season we get to see what they’re all capable of at home,” Borst said. “We get to see them in qualifying and on the road in tournaments, but now they’re all under the gun. Just because you’re playing as an individual doesn’t mean that it doesn’t mean anything. We’re using this for the next two tournaments to pick who is playing. Every round counts, and we’re trying to win every tournament and we’re trying to win every round that we play. The fact that I get to see all 10 play is really good for me as a coach.”
The Wildcats will hope to capitalize on the home-course advantage. The U-Club, which will play as a par 72 at 6,221 yards, is in magnificent shape thanks to Marcus Dean and the UK Sports Turf crew.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
