By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech women's golf team returns to action Sunday morning, embarking on a three-day tournament in Gadsden, Ala. and hosted by Ohio Valley Conference rival Jacksonville State, the Chris Bannister Fall Classic.
CHRIS BANNISTER FALL CLASSIC: 54 holes (18 Sunday, 18 Monday, 18 Tuesday), located at the par-72, 5,943-yard Silver Lakes Golf Course on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Gadsden, Ala. Teams will start teeing off each day at 7:30 a.m. CT.
GOLDEN EAGLE LINEUP: Competing for the Golden Eagles are senior Whitney Robertson, senior Lydia Triplett, sophomore Hollee Sadler, junior Allyson Dunn, and redshirt freshman Arianna Clemmer.
THE COMPETITION: The nine-team field consists of host Jacksonville State, Alabama State, Lipscomb, Murray State, Samford, South Alabama, Tennessee Tech, UAB and ULM.
THOUGHTS FROM COACH BROWN: "This is the first time we have been to the Chris Bannister Fall Classic since my second year of coaching. Silver Lakes is a great track and a lot like Hampton Cove [site of the OVC Championships] in that it is a Robert Trent Jones course. The greens are very large, so the women are going to need to be precise with their iron play and make sure they are hitting it to the right spots on the green. It's a great layout. I look forward to seeing what the team does since they've had some time to work on things since going to Caledonia. I'm excited to see how Arianna does playing in her first event. I know the team is ready and raring to go after this past week of practice.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Tech will look to improve on its ninth-place finish at the GolfWeek Program Challenge two weeks ago. A veteran crew will head south to Alabama while redshirt freshman Arianna Clemmer will make her Golden Eagle debut. The Golden Eagles won the Chris Bannister Fall Classic back in 2000, posting a two-round total of 646 after days of 329 and 317.
Photo by Thomas Corhern