UK Women’s Golf to Host Bettie Lou Evans Invitational
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Already with one team championship to its name in 2019-20, the Kentucky women’s golf team hopes to add to that this weekend and defend its title from a season ago when it hosts the 2019 Bettie Lou Evans Invitational at the University Club of Kentucky.
Several opportunities will be on the line for the Wildcats starting Friday in what they hope will be a special weekend in Lexington. UK will not only try to repeat as Bettie Lou Evans Invitational champions for the first time since winning it back-to-back in 1996 and 1997, Kentucky will be looking for its first multi-win season since 1997-98 and its first back-to-back titles in the same season since 1990-91, when the Wildcats would go on to win a school-record four tournaments.
To do it on their home course in front of fans and family members this weekend is the goal for a young but talented Kentucky squad.
“We’re very excited for this week,” UK head coach Golda Borst said. “The tournament in Minnesota obviously went really well. It’s fun to learn how to win, especially in a competitive field. We want to take that experience, build on it, and keep going lower and sticking with our process and staying focused. It’s a long season. This is a fun tournament and we’re at home, but we want to stay focused on our long-term goals.”
Thirteen teams will compete Friday through Sunday at the U-Club’s Big Blue Course. Now in its 30th year of play and named after longtime UK head coach (1979 to 2001) and former director of operations (2002 to 2018) Bettie Lou Evans, the tournament is being played for the third straight year.
Admission is free and fans are encouraged to attend. Current weather forecasts for this weekend show clear and dry conditions with temperatures in the 80s and 90s.
“The girls love having a home tournament,” Borst said. “They really enjoy being able to have their families come. We’ve got parents, grandparents and one of the girls’ godfather is coming. We’ve got all kinds of people coming along with some people on our staff. The girls don’t experience what the Big Blue Nation is like too often, so when it’s on our home course it makes it that much more special for them.”
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 Friday and Saturday at 8:30 a.m. 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 12 times after a thrilling and record-setting win in 2018, its first at the Bettie Lou since 2011 and its first tournament championship of any kind since 2013. After watching a 16-shot lead all but evaporate in the final round of last year’s tournament thanks to an 18-hole tournament record 278 by Penn State, the Wildcats held off the Nittany Lions by two strokes to claim the hardware.
Penn State is back in this year’s tournament.
Not only did the Wildcats win team honors last season with 54-hole school-record score of 858 (6-under par), departed senior Leonie Bettel added the cherry on top by winning individual medalist honors, one of three championships she claimed a season ago. UK has claimed individual medalist honors in each of the last two seasons after Grace Rose won it in 2017 for the tournament’s revival after a five-year hiatus.
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 a gap from 2012 to 2016.
“Bettie Lou has been the heartbeat of this program for so long,” Borst said. “We love that we can have a tournament to honor her. She brings so much energy. She gets so excited about this event. I think she’s very happy we’re having it.”
This year’s field features Akron, Cincinnati, Eastern Kentucky, Indianapolis, Marshall, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Murray State, Penn State, Rutgers, Tulane, Western Kentucky and, of course, UK.
The Wildcats will hope to capitalize on the home-course advantage. The U-Club, which will play as a par 72 at 6,114 yards, is in magnificent shape despite unseasonably warm conditions with little-to-no precipitation in September.
UK certainly expects to be in the hunt for the championship after winning the Minnesota Invitational earlier this month to begin the season. With three freshmen playing in their first collegiate tournament vs. a stacked field, the Wildcats battled through weather delays and difficult conditions to win the 36-hole-shortened tournament by three shots.
The championship marked the fifth of the Borst era and got momentum rolling for what UK hopes will be a banner 2019-20 year. Kentucky bid farewell to the record-setting Bettel and senior Claire Carlin after 2018-19 but have retooled with the most talented recruiting class in school history and a core of experienced returners.
Nine of the 10 Wildcats will be in action this weekend. After a competitive week of qualifying, freshman Jensen Castle, junior Rikke Svejgård Nielsen, senior Sarah Shipley, freshman Marissa Wenzler and sophomore Casey Ott will play for the team score. Freshman Kelsey Wylie, senior Josephine Chang, sophomore Ryan Bender and junior Sarah Fite will play as individuals.
The team lineup is almost identical to the group that won in Minnesota; the lone change being Ott for Wylie.
The only player missing in action this weekend is freshman Janika Rüttimann, whose collegiate debut has been delayed by an injury.
Castle lived up to the billing as the highest-rated signee in UK women’s golf history with back-to-back 69s at the Minnesota Invitational to tie for third place at 6-under par. She sealed the championship in Minnesota with three straight birdies later in her round.
Svejgård Nielsen and Shipley both tied for 17th at 2-over par and are primed for strong veteran campaigns. Svejgård Nielsen already has five top-20 showings in just 11 collegiate appearances while Shipley is building on the momentum she built over the summer with two wins in amateur tournaments.
Wenzler, the 2018 Ohio High School Athletic Association state champion, finished at 3-over par in her college debut in Minnesota and tied 25th.
Ott pushed her way into the lineup after a strong week of qualifying. She appeared to find her late 2018-19 groove on the final day of the MSU Greenbrier Invitational championship last week where, playing as an individual, she shot a final-round 72 to tie for sixth place. Going back to last spring, she has three top-10 finishes in her last six college events.
Wylie will play as an individual for the first time after making key contributions at the Minnesota Invitational, where she tied for 35th.
Chang and Bender both competed at last week’s Greenbrier and finished in 11th and a tie for 25th, respectively.
Fite is coming off one of the best performances of her career at the Minnesota Invitational. There, competing as an individual, she tied for seventh place for her second-10 finish of her career.
All six of UK’s returners from last season played in the 2018 Bettie Lou. Shipley and Svejgård Nielsen played key parts by tying for 14th with 54-hole scores of 2-over par.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
You heard them. Come support us this weekend at the University Club for the #BettieLou.
A post shared by Kentucky Women’s Golf (@kentuckywgolf) on Sep 25, 2019 at 9:03am PDT
