54-hole event to take place at Moss Creek Golf Club in Hilton Head Island, S.C.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. ? The 2009 Southern Conference Women’s Golf Championship will be played April 19-21 at the Moss Creek Golf Club in Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Ten teams will compete for the Southern Conference crown, including defending champion Furman, which claimed an eight-stroke victory over UNC Greensboro in last season’s championship at the Links at Stono Ferry in Hollywood, S.C. The Paladins are led by the tandem of senior Blair Lamb, the 2007 Southern Conference tournament champion, and sophomore Stefanie Kenoyer, the 2008 SoCon tournament winner. Kenoyer (83) and Lamb (94) are the two top rated golfers in the league, according to the Golfstat national ratings.

Second-year program Chattanooga will be looking to claim its first SoCon title, as it enters the event as the league’s second-highest ranked team, according to Golfstat. The youthful Lady Mocs, led by two sophomores and three freshmen, are paced by Emma de Groot, a sophomore from Coffs Harbour, Australia. de Groot enters the SoCon championship with two individual wins to her credit this season.

Also competing in the event is College of Charleston, led by two-time SoCon Player of the Year Steffi Kirchmayr, and Elon, whose Danielle Mills boasts the league’s lowest stroke average on the year at 74.74.

Other participating teams are Appalachian State, The Citadel, UNC Greensboro, Samford, Western Carolina and Wofford.

Six Southern Conference teams are ranked in the top 100 of Golfstat’s ratings, including Furman (46), Chattanooga (48), College of Charleston (50), Western Carolina (84), Elon (90) and UNC Greernsboro (96).

This year’s event is the first SoCon Championship to be held at Moss Creek, a par 72, 6,050-yard course.

The winner of the SoCon Championship will earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The tournament tees off at 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning, and fans can follow the action at www.golfstatresults.com.