MOBILE, Ala. – Coming off of its lowest tournament team score of the season, the University of South Alabama women’s golf team will wrap-up its fall schedule at the Blue Raider Invitational, Oct. 22-23, at Old Fort Golf Club in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
The two-day, 54-hole event, hosted by Middle Tennessee, will take place on Old Fort’s par-72, 6,177-yard course, and will feature 36 holes on Monday followed by the final 18 holes on Tuesday.
“We want to improve each tournament,” head coach TJ Jackson said. “We want to finish strong and put in a good performance, because this is our final tournament of the fall and we’ll see several [Sun Belt] conference schools.”
South Alabama will compete against a 17-team field with a lineup that will consist of Kristen Golightly, Ingrid Hagen, Anna Lesher, Ashleigh Ryals and Caroline Beebe.
Golightly leads the Jaguars with a 77.33 stroke average, and earned her first top-10 finish of the season last week with a seventh-place showing at the Courtyard Classic in Jacksonville, Fla.
The Blue Raider Invitational will mark the second tournament for Beebe, who shot 1-over par 73 in her first career round as a Jaguar at the ULM Fred Marx Invitational in September.
South Alabama has improved its team score and finish in each tournament this fall after earning its highest finish (3rd) at the Courtyard Classic last week. The Jags turned in a three-round team total of 911 at Jacksonville, marking its lowest three-round score of the season.
“We’re doing a much better job of making good decisions and allowing ourselves the opportunity to hit good quality shots from tee-to-green,” Jackson said. “We hit a lot of greens [at Jacksonville], so we had a lot of birdie opportunities. We need to continue that as we go. We’re going in the right direction; there’s no doubt about that.
“There is a good field of teams at this tournament. We want to finish on a strong note so we can head into the break with some confidence and a good feel going into the spring.”
USA will look to improve on its 12th-place finish at last year’s Blue Raider Invitational. Three of the five Jaguars in the week’s lineup (Golightly, Hagen and Ryals) competed at Old Fort Golf Club last season.
“It’s a definite advantage to know the golf course,” Jackson said of the players’ experience from a year ago. “We may have totally different conditions than we had last year, but knowing the layout is an advantage going into a tournament.”
The Blue Raider Invitational will kick off with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start Monday.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
-USA-
Blue Raider Invitational
Old Fort Golf Club, Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Par 72, 6,177 yards
Tournament Field
1) South Alabama; 2) Middle Tennessee; 3) Austin Peay; 4) Belmont; 5) Jacksonville State; 6) Lamar; 7) UMKC; 8) Morehead State; 9) Murray State; 10) Northern Iowa; 11) Oral Roberts; 12) Southern Illinois; 13) Southern Mississippi; 14) Tennessee Tech; 15) UTEP; 16) Troy; 17) Western Kentucky; 18) UALR
