Women’s golf travels to Augusta for Valspar Invitational
TOURNAMENT: Valspar Augusta Invitational
WHEN: Saturday, March 13 - Sunday, March 14
LOCATION: Augusta, Georgia
COURSE: Forest Hills Golf Club (Par 72, 6,249 yards)
FOLLOW: Live Scoring | Twitter @USFWGolf
TAMPA (March 12, 2021) – Following a two-week layoff, the USF women's golf team returns to the links at the Valspar Augusta Invitational this weekend in a loaded field. The 54-hole tournament will take place over two days at Forest Hills Golf Club and is being hosted by Augusta University. Rounds one and two will be played on Saturday with the final 18 holes on Sunday.
The 15-team field includes seven Top 25 teams in the Golfstat national rankings, including five top-10 squads, headlined by No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 2 Duke and No. 3 South Carolina. Opposite the Bulls will also be No. 5 Florida State, No. 7 Virginia, No. 17 Kent State and No. 24 Louisville. USF checks in at No. 51 in the latest rankings.
THE BULLS
The Valspar Augusta Invitational will be the third outing this spring for the Bulls. USF opened the season by setting new program records for single round (281) and 54-hole scoring (861) while finishing fourth at the FAU Paradise Invitational. Last time out, the Bulls placed ninth in a highly-competitive field at the Florida State Match-Up with a team score of 913.
Freshman Melanie Green (Medina, N.Y.) finished second in her first collegiate outing at the FAU Paradise invitational by shooting a 211 – the seventh-best 54-hole total in program history. Green leads USF through two tournaments in scoring average (73). She has shot in the 60s twice and has three rounds of par or better to date.
Jessica Whitting (Perth, Australia) has a scoring average of 74.50 over six rounds this year while posting two rounds of par or better with a season-low score of 69. Senior Shelby Brauckmuller (Auburndale) is averaging a 75.50 over two tournaments, followed by junior Ashley Zagers (Oldsmar) with a 75.67 and freshman Erika Smith (Orlando) also averaging 75.67.
That same group of five will represent the Bulls' starting lineup at the Valspar Invitational.
About USF Women's Golf
The Bulls are in their third season under head coach Erika Brennan in 2020-21. USF is among the fastest rising program in the country, as they climbed 75 spots in the national Golfstat rankings following Brennan's first season. The Bulls won two tournaments in 2018-19 and set several program records, including season scoring average (293.43) and team rounds of par or better (6), and in 2019-20 the Bulls posted a wire-to-wire win at the Old Friends Invitational, marking the program's third tournament title since spring 2019.
Follow @USFWGolf on Twitter for the latest information concerning the program.
- #GoBulls –
