COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – A busy opening week of the season
continues for Tennessee Tech's women's golf team, which heads to
North Carolina this weekend to join a field of 23 teams competing
in the 11th annual Great Smokies Women's Intercollegiate, presented
by the Wolf Creek Tree Farm and Nursery of Tuckasegee.
Tech won the first two team championships at the event in 1999 and
2000, led by back-to-back Golden Eagle medalists Cherry Bevis and
Kylie Crouch. Since then, the Golden Eagles have earned four Top 10
finishes, including fourth in 2004 and third place last year.
Three news teams join the field which will compete for team and individual titles in the tournament hosted by Western Carolina University.
The event, which began back in 1999, will again be held at the
par 72, 5,922-yard Waynesville Inn – Golf Resort in Spa in
Waynesville, N.C.
The 2009 Great Smokies Intercollegiate will consist of three days
of golf beginning on Friday with practice rounds starting at noon.
The two-round, 36-hole tournament will begin with a shotgun start
at 8 am CDT on Saturday, with the final round also teeing off with
a shotgun start at 8 am on Sunday.
The Waynesville Inn – Golf Resort and Spa – previously
referred to as the Waynesville Country Club – was established
in 1926, nestled on the hills and valleys of Western North
Carolina. The 27-hole course sits on a former dairy farm and
features rolling fairways ending in bent grass greens. The course
was designed by renowned golf course designer, Donald Ross, who
also designed Pinehurst #2 which hosted the 2005 U.S. Open. Golf
Digest gave the Waynesville Inn – Golf Resort and Spa a
four-star rating.
Teams will once again play the Carolina and Blue Ridge courses
with similar yardages from a year ago. The Carolina course will
play 2,981 yards with Blue Ridge, which features three par 3 and
three par 5 holes, measuring out to 2,941 yards to make up the
5,922-yard course.
Western Carolina has won six of the 10 team titles all-time,
including edging Southern Conference foe, Wofford, by five strokes
a season ago. The Catamounts have also claimed individual medalist
honors five times, but are amidst a three-year void
In addition to the Catamounts, the two other past tournament
champions - Elon (2001) and Tennessee Tech (1999, 2000) - will also
be in this year's field along with 17 other schools making return
trips to the mountains of Western North Carolina. Four schools
– Bowling Green, Saint Leo (Fla.) University – which is
coached by former Catamount, Erika Danford Brennan, Savannah
College of Art & Design (SCAD) and South Carolina State –
will make their first-ever trips to Waynesville for the
tournament.
Three of the top five finishers from a year ago return to this
year's tournament including third-place finisher, senior Diana
Carson of Tennessee Tech. WCU’s Blaire Minter and Elin
Mickelsson both finished tied for fourth a season ago and return to
action this weekend.
Practice rounds begin at Noon on Friday, with both the first and
second rounds on Monday and Tuesday mornings, respectively, teeing
off at 9:00 am. Admission is free and the tournament is open to the
public.
Full recaps and results will be made available online at
www.CatamountSports.com at the conclusion of both rounds Saturday
and Sunday. Results will also be posted on TTUsports.com late each
day.
GREAT SMOKIES INTERCOLLEGIATE NOTES:
* A total of 55 different teams have participated in the event
all-time … the 2009 tournament features 23 teams from nine
different states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North
Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia) including
four – Bowling Green, Saint Leo University, Savannah College
of Art & Design (SCAD) and South Carolina State – making
their first-ever tournament appearance;
* Three of the four all-time tournament team champions will be
in competition: Tennessee Tech (1999, 2000); Elon (2001) and
Western Carolina (2002, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06,
‘08) – the only champion squad not in attendance is
Chattanooga (2007);
* Western Carolina has won six-of-the-ten team titles at the Great
Smokies Intercollegiate ... the Catamounts have also had the
individual medalist in five of the past eight seasons, but are
amidst a three-year drought;
* Current Tennessee Tech assistant coach, Kylie Crouch, won the inaugural Great Smokies Intercollegiate back in 1999;
