COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Tech women’s golf team will get the 2012 spring schedule underway this weekend when it plays in the Ann Rhoads Invitational, hosted by Birmingham Southern College.

The 17-team tournament will take place on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Oxmoor Valley, with 18 holes scheduled for Sunday and a final round Monday. Each day will open with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m.

In addition to host Birmingham Southern and the Golden Eagles, the field will also feature Anderson College, Belmont, Huntingdon, Indiana State, Indianapolis, Jackson State, King College, Lenoir-Rhyne, Lipscomb, Methodist, Millsaps, Montevallo, Southern Illinois, Texas-Tyler and Tennessee State.  

Coach Polk Brown will take all five players that he has available for the tournament, with his lineup missing freshman Madalyn Everts. After posting the second lowest average on the team in the fall, Everts will miss most of the spring season with a wrist injury.

Junior Katherine Bell will headline the lineup this weekend. She had the low average on the team during the fall season at 78.0 through 10 tournament rounds. She will be joined by junior Amanda Randolph, and sophomores Amber Shepherd, Brandy VanEtten and Katy Beth Glover.

Tech did not play in the Ann Rhoads event last year after finishing second in the tournament in 2010 when the field included six teams. The only current player who played in that event is Randolph, who finished fifth on the squad and 14^th overall as a freshman. Diana Carson led Tech and placed third overall, while both Carley Rhyne and Megan Bradford earned Top 10 finishes.

Results will be posted each day on TTUsports.com as soon as they become available.