Jayhawks open 2018-19 season at Minnesota Invitational Monday
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas women’s golf team begins its 38th season in school history next week, opening fall play on Monday at the Minnesota Invitational in Woodbury, Minnesota. The two-day tournament takes place Sept. 10-11 at the par 72, 6,248-yard Prestwick Golf Course. The 2018 appearance marks the fifth-straight year KU has competed in the event and the second year playing at Prestwick Golf Course, previously playing at the Minikahda Golf Course in Minneapolis.
The Jayhawks return three seniors from last year’s squad including Ariadna Fonseca Diaz, Chomchana Phuchanbanchob and Victoria Chandra, and are led by head coach Erin O’Neil who’s entering her 15th season at the helm of the program. O’Neil also brought in four signees this offseason including Kelly Strickland, Abby Glynn, Phisitkhwan Pooratanaopa and Lauren Heinlein.
“I think it will be good that we’ve played the course,” O’Neil said. “It’s not a super tricky course, it’s pretty straightforward. It’s very scoreable, so I think we’ll have to make birdies for us to be in there. We’ve been trying to play a little more from the forward tees and get used to that pressure.”
KU faces a talented field of 14 teams, including Big 12 rival Oklahoma, who finished the 2017-18 season ranked in GolfWeek’s Top 20. The Jayhawks will also compete against familiar faces from last year’s invitational including Louisville, East Carolina, Virginia Tech, Minnesota and North Texas. Rounding out the field are San Jose State, Mizzou, Notre Dame, San Francisco, Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State, Rutgers and South Dakota State.
The Jayhawks will utilize a lineup of Yi-Tsen Chou, Sera Tadokoro, Annika Cedo, Lauren Heinlein, Phisitkhwan “Pear” Pooratanaopa and Xinyun “Melody” Yu.
“There’s a little bit of everything experience-wise,” O’Neil said of the team’s roster. “We just finished qualifying last weekend so it’s been more competitive, and I’m excited about that. The freshman worked really hard this summer and played in a bunch of tournaments, and I think it’s paying off now.”
Tee times begin will Monday at 7:40 a.m., and 12:39 p.m., (CDT) starts off of the #10 tee. The tournament concludes with a shotgun start to begin the final round at 9:15 a.m., on Tuesday, September 11th.
Live results will be available here: http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=16428
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