SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The 2019 Southern Conference Women’s Golf Championship will be played Sunday through Tuesday at the Moss Creek Golf Club on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The student-athletes will play the South Course, which is a par-72 measured at 5,980 yards.
Led by two-time SoCon Coach of the Year Jeff Hull, Furman captured 17 of 25 SoCon women’s golf titles, taking the 2018 tournament by 34 strokes. Mercer and ETSU, second and third in the conference rankings, respectively, are both in the hunt for their first-ever women’s golf conference championship. Chattanooga, which came in second at last year’s championship, is slotted fourth in the SoCon in team stroke average and national rank.
Furman is led this season by senior Haylee Harford, who enters the tournament coming off a seventh-place tie at the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur last weekend. Harford enters the 2019 SoCon Championship as the top-ranked golfer in the league, ranked No. 39 nationally according to Golfstat. Furman’s Natalie Srinivasan, the 2018 Player of the Year and tournament runner-up, enters the tournament ranked No. 56 while senior Jacqueline Bendrick, who finished eighth at last season’s championship, is No. 127 overall. As a team, Furman leads the SoCon with a 294.30 stroke average.
Mercer, ranked No. 63 by Golfstat, enters the 2019 championship with two individual team titles under its belt. The Bears took home the Idle Hour Collegiate Championship this past fall and the Brickyard Collegiate title last week. They are led by senior Mary Janiga, who is currently ninth in the conference in stroke average and freshman Carol Pyon. Janiga’s best individual finish came at the Idle Hour Collegiate Championship, where she finished fifth and posted a 2-under-par 218. Pyon posted a 6-under-par 138 at the Brickyard Collegiate last week to claim her first individual collegiate title.
ETSU, led by senior Hee Ying Loy and sophomore Tereza Melecka, who are third and sixth in the league in stroke average, respectively, is third in the SoCon with a stroke average of 299.13. Loy, ranked No. 96 nationally according to Golfstat, is coming off action at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last weekend. Teammate Melecka, ranked No. 188 nationally according to Golfstat, owns a 74.04 stroke average. The Bucs are ranked No. 73 by Golfstat.
Ranked No. 91 by Golfstat, Chattanooga enters the 2019 tournament with two in the top 10 individual SoCon rankings. The Mocs are fourth in the SoCon with a 302.04 stroke average. They are led by senior Monica San Juan, who currently stands at seventh in the conference stroke average rankings (74.18). San Juan finished the 2018-19 season with two top-10 finishes and an individual-best eighth-place finish at the Princess Anne Invitational in the fall.
Led by 2018 SoCon Freshman of the Year Tara Bettle, who leads the Spartans with a 75.08 stroke average, UNCG enters the tournament fifth in the SoCon in stroke average (302.8).
Samford,closed the 2019 spring season with a pair of top-10 finishes, taking first at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate and eighth at the John Kirk/Panther Intercollegiate. The Bulldogs are led by senior Emily Uhland, who claimed the individual title at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate and is currently 11th in the conference with a 75.73 stroke average.
Wofford closed out the spring season with a trio of top-10 finishes. The Terriers’ best finish came at the French Broad Invitational, where they finished tied for second in a field of 11. They are led this season by freshman Becca Earl, who finished out the regular season with a tie for second at the Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate, finishing 3-over-par.
Western Carolina and The Citadel’s top finishes this season were eighth and third, respectively. The Catamounts’ eighth-place finish came at the Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate, while The Citadel’s third-place came at the Sand Shark Invitational during the fall season.
The Paladins have produced a league-best 15 individual medalists, while Chattanooga has five and Appalachian State, College of Charleston, Western Carolina and UNCG own one each.
The winner of the 26th edition of the SoCon Championship will earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA regionals. The NCAA field will be announced live on the Golf Channel at 5:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 24.
The SoCon tournament tees off at 8 a.m. Sunday. Live stats can be found at http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?DB_OEM_ID=4000&pg=participants&tid=17985.