UK Women’s Golf Concludes Fall Season at Liz Murphey Classic
ATHENS, Ga. – The Kentucky women’s golf team will close its fall season this weekend at the Liz Murphey Fall Collegiate Classic.
The Wildcats will conclude their revised 2020 fall schedule with the 48th edition of the University of Georgia’s home tournament. The three-day, 54-hole event begins Friday at the UGA Golf Course in Athens, Georgia.
UK is looking for a strong finish after mixed results in the first two tournaments. The Wildcats placed eighth at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas and 12th at The Ally in Starkville, Mississippi against what has statistically been the toughest fields in college golf so far.
That will continue this weekend in Georgia where eight of the 12 teams (Georgia, as host, will also insert a second team) are ranked in the top 15 of Golfweek’s latest rankings.
UK will take on that strong field with a familiar lineup sans one Wildcat. Senior Rikke Svejgård Nielsen, sophomores Jensen Castle and Marissa Wenzler, and freshman Laney Frye will appear in their third straight tournament, but sophomore María Villanueva Aperribay will make her Kentucky debut this weekend after transferring from Augusta.
“This has been an interesting season to say the least and I can’t believe that we are about to play in our final event of the fall,” UK head coach Golda Borst said. “With that said, we have some unfinished business to take care of and our team is very much looking forward to our last event in Georgia this week.”
“Even though we haven’t played our best golf, we have learned a lot about where we are as a team and it’s been great playing against some of the best teams in the country within our conference. We get one more opportunity to do that and I know my team is ready to compete.”
Tee times will begin as early as 8:30 a.m. on Friday. Wenzler will be the first Wildcat to tee off at 9:19 a.m. off hole No. 10. Live scoring will be available throughout the tournament at Golfstat.com.
After careful consideration from health officials, the Southeastern Conference deemed it safe for league membership to participate in three team events in the fall. Competition could take place no earlier than Oct. 1 and teams were limited to events involving only SEC members or nonconference teams from the tournament host’s geographic region.
The fall finale in Georgia carries the same namesake as Georgia’s annual spring tournament but they will be separate events with Georgia still scheduled to host the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, the oldest women’s collegiate tournament in the southern United States, in the spring. UK was scheduled to play in the spring version of the tournament last season before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the rest of the season.
Castle was Kentucky’s top finisher at The Ally two weeks ago, placing 22nd with a score of 2-over par. Her first round was reminiscent of her record-setting 2019-20 campaign when she set the school’s single-season scoring record, placed in the top 20 in five of six tournaments and made the All-SEC First Team. Castle fired a 69 in the first round in Starkville, followed by a 74 and a 75.
Frye has impressed in her first two collegiate tournaments. She was the top freshman finisher at the BCI in Arkansas with a sixth-place showing at 3-over par. The 2018 Kentucky High School Athletic Association state champion had a solid outing at The Ally as well with a score of 7-over par.
Svejgård Nielsen is the most experienced Wildcat in the lineup this weekend as she makes her 19th collegiate appearance. She owns seven career top-20 finishes and is the only UK player on the 2020-21 roster with an individual championship in a college tournament.
Villanueva Aperribay will make her much-anticipated Kentucky debut in Athens. The sophomore was a major contributor for Augusta in her first season of college golf, appearing in six team events with a 73.6 stroke average. She finished in the top 25 in four of her six appearances with 13 of her 18 rounds at 74 or lower, including five rounds of par or better.
Wenzler will try to return to form after trying for 53rd at The Ally. The sophomore entered this season with big expectations after winning two championships over the summer with two additional runner-up showings. Her 73.2 stroke average in 2019-20 is the third-best single-season mark in school history.
The UGA Golf Course is a par 71 Robert Trent Jones layout and will play at 6,302 yards. It was renovated by Love Golf Design in 2006.
The Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic originally began in 1973 as the Georgia Invitational and was contested as the Women’s Southern Intercollegiates from 1977-94. In 1995, the tourney was renamed in honor of Liz Murphey, UGA’s Hall of Fame golf coach and longtime senior woman administrator.
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.
