Schedule: http://www.gomocs.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=92109&SPID=10574&DB_OEM_ID=17700&Q_SEASON=2009
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.---The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s golf coach Colette Murray announces a 10-tournament slate for this year’s women’s golf on Monday. The schedule travels from the east coast of Florida to the Nevada desert.
The schedule starts with the Hooter’s Collegiate Match Play at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla., Sept. 6-8. The 16-team field includes nine 2009 top 25 programs led by No. 4 Virginia, No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 LSU, No. 8 Duke, No. 9 North Carolina, No. 10 Auburn and No. 15 Georgia. The Blue Devils have won five of the last six events.
“The invitation to the match play is huge,” said Head Coach Colette Murray. “To be recognized in this fashion for an event of this magnitude is special.”
Another new event for the Lady Mocs is the inaugural Golfweek Conference Challenge in Primm, Nev., Sept. 13-15. UTC will represent the Southern Conference against top teams from 18 conferences around the country led by No. 5 Oklahoma State before heading to its third new entry of the fall, the Bettie Lou Evans Fall Invitational at the University of Kentucky Sept. 25-27.
Chattanooga closes out the fall portion of the schedule returning to Knoxville, Tenn., Oct. 16-18, for the Mercedes-Benz Women’s Championship at Fox Den Country Club. The Lady Mocs finished tied for ninth against a strong field in 2008 beating, among others, No. 12 Denver.
“Overall, it’s a stronger fall schedule which should be very beneficial to our ranking,” Murray added.
The spring slate starts on Mar. 1 for the Lady Mocs with the Kinderlou Forest Challenge, hosted by Kentucky and Kennesaw State, in yet another first-year tournament which features a great field including Alabama, Auburn, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. They follow quickly Mar. 7-9 defending their title at the JMU/Eagle Landing Invitational in Jacksonville, Fla.
It will be a quick turnaround again later in the month returning to Georgia State’s John/Kirk Panther Intercollegiate (Mar. 22-23) before heading back to Austin, Texas for the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational Mar. 26-28 which promises to have another top-flight field.
Chattanooga closes out the regular season with a trip to Gainesville, Fla., for the SunTrust Lady Gator Invitational April 10-11. Last year’s event was won by Duke and featured three top 10 teams.
The Southern Conference Championship returns to Hilton Head, S.C., and the Moss Creek Golf Club on April 18-20. The Lady Mocs will attempt to capture their first conference title in just the third season of competition for the program before moving on the NCAA Regionals and competing to return to the NCAA Finals.
“We are returning to some great events as well as entering a few new ones,” added Murray. “We are finally in a position where we know we can compete with anyone based on what we did in the regionals and finals last year. We’ve started to make a name for ourselves, but we have a lot of work left to do.”