UK Women’s Golf Heads to Rival Territory for Cardinal Cup
SIMPSONVILLE, Ky. – The Kentucky women’s golf team won’t have to travel far for a chance to seize its first team win of the season. The Wildcats will head west on Interstate 64 to compete for the Cardinal Cup this weekend in a two-day tournament hosted by the University of Louisville.
On Saturday and Sunday, 14 teams will compete at the U of L Golf Club in Simpsonville, Kentucky. The rounds are scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. with 36 holes slated for Saturday and the final 18 holes Sunday. Both days are shotgun starts.
Admission is free and fans are encouraged to attend. Live scoring will be available throughout the weekend at GolfStat.com.
“We are looking forward to competing again this weekend and to bringing the Big Blue Nation to the U of L Golf Club,” head coach Golda Borst said. “The team has prepared well over the last two weeks and now it’s time to focus, have some fun and execute the game plan.”
This week’s field consists of Ball State, Charlotte, Columbia, East Carolina, Illinois, Kent State, Kentucky, Louisville, Memphis, Murray State, Richmond, Toledo, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin. Seven teams are ranked in the top 50 of the newly released Golfstat rankings, including the Wildcats at No. 37. Also, seven teams in the field made NCAA regionals last season.
The Cardinal Cup is the third tournament scheduled for UK’s fall season. Kentucky tied for seventh at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship before a fourth-place finish at the UK’s Bettie Lou Evans Invitational two weeks ago. Both tournaments featured standout individual performances as junior Leonie Bettel fired a tournament record 65 in the final round of the Mercedes-Benz while senior Grace Rose tied for first at the Bettie Lou.
Now Kentucky hopes to take that individual success and turn it into a team victory.
UK will once again play most of its roster with five in the team lineup and three playing as individuals. Seniors Rose and Isabelle Johansson, juniors Bettel and Claire Carlin, and freshman Claire Cameron will get the nod for team scoring, with three of the five – Rose, Johansson and Carlin – having appeared in last season’s Cardinal Cup. Sophomores Sarah Shipley and Josephine Chang and freshman Sarah Fite will compete as individuals.
“I believe this course suits our team well as it is similar to Big Blue at the University Club,” Borst said. “You also have to be a solid ball striker to score out here and that is one of our strengths. Most of our team has played here before and I think that will play to our favor as well.”
Rose will lead the Wildcats at the Cardinal Cup after her first career tournament championship at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational. She recorded a career-low 54-hole tournament total of 211 (4-under par) with a 4-under 68 in the final found to rally from a four-shot deficit. She tied for 14th at the 2016 Cardinal Cup.
Johansson is coming off a top-10 finish at the Bettie Lou and could be poised for another big weekend in Simpsonville. The Kentucky record holder for single-season stroke average tied for seventh at last year’s Cardinal Cup.
Bettel will appear in her third tournament for the Wildcats after transferring from NC State. The junior from Vienna, Austria, was Kentucky’s top finisher at the Mercedes-Benz and recorded her first career hole-in-one at the Bettie Lou.
Meanwhile, Carlin is playing the best golf of her career. She recorded a 54-hole career-low at the Mercedes-Benz in September after posting a tournament total of 222 (6-over par). She followed that by tying for 36th at the Bettie Lou, a career-best finish.
Cameron earned her way into the lineup after carding a tournament total of 225 (9-over par) at the Bettie Lou to finish in a tie for 25th. Her reliability and proven success make her ideally suited for a first appearance on Kentucky’s team’s lineup.
Shipley, Chang and Fite will all play as individuals for the second straight tournament. Shipley has played in all 14 tournaments since she’s been a Wildcat and is coming off a 32nd-place finish. Chang will look to bounce back after tying for 73rd at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational, while Fite is coming off her collegiate debut two weeks ago.
The field can expect a forecast of mostly sunny skies Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures will peak in the mid-to-upper 70s.
The U of L Golf Club, just a short drive away from Lexington, will play at 6,250 yards, a par 72.
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.
