WILMINGTON, N.C. – With three weeks off between tournaments the Penn State women's golf team travels to North Carolina to close out its 2019 fall season at the 18th annual Landfall Tradition hosted by the University of North Carolina Wilmington on Friday, October 25 through Sunday, October 27.
LAST TIME OUT
- The Nittany Lions backed a strong performance at the Nittany Lion Invitational with another quality showing at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational finishing third with an 11-over, 875, team total in the 54-hole event.
- Sophomore Sarah Willis (Eaton, Ohio) used a 1-under, 71, in the final round to jump three spots and finish the event tied for second at 3-under, 213. Freshman Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France) was the co-leader after the first round with a career-low 3-under, 69. The rookie slipped a bit down the stretch finishing tied for eighth at 1-under, 215.
ABOUT THE LANDFALL TRADITION
- This marks the 18th annual event, which dates back to 2002 and this is the sixth-straight season the Nittany Lions have concluded their fall season at the event. Duke is the two-time defending champion but will not be back to defend its crown as part of the 18-team field.
- The event is being played at the Country Club of Landfall on the Dye Course, a 6,140-yard par-72 winding golf course with out-of-bounds of nearly every hole.
- The format for the tournament is three rounds with a single round each day. Friday and Saturday will feature split tees with tee times beginning at 8:30 a.m. while Sunday will be an 8:45 a.m. shotgun start.
- Penn State is paired with NC State and Michigan for Friday's opening round and will tee off between 8:30 – 9:06 a.m. on hole No. 10.
Live scoring for the event will be available throughout the week and can be found HERE.
THE TEAM
- Penn State's lineup will remain unchanged from its previous three tournaments of the fall as Willis and Delavallade will join senior classmates Megan McLean (Lebanon, Pa.) and Maddy Herr (New Hope, Pa.) along with junior Olivia Zambruno (Mt. Pleasant, Pa.) in the starting lineup.
- Delavallade is leading the team with a 72.78 stroke average through the first nine rounds of the season with four 73's, a 72 and a team-low round of 3-under, 69, so far this season. Delavallade has a team-best two top-10 finishes with eighth place finishes in the last two events.
- Willis is second on the team with a 73.44 stroke average and has the lone top-5 finish through three events this fall.
- McLean is also averaging below 75 with a 74.22 stroke average this season.
THE FIELD
- A stacked field includes 12 teams ranked inside the top-50 in the GolfStat Rankings including six teams insides the top-20 led by No. 9 South Carolina and No. 10 Michigan State along with Alabama (No. 13), Oklahoma State (No. 16), Illinois (No. 19) and Virginia Tech (No. 20).
- North Carolina (No. 26), Furman (No. 29), Virginia (No. 32), Florida State (No. 37), Maryland (No. 42) and Michigan (No. 44) round out the teams in the top-50.
- Along with the Nittany Lions and Host UNCW, Central Florida, NC State, Purdue and Indiana round out the field.
- This field is a good test for Penn State as six other Big Ten teams are competing, all of which are ranked higher than the Nittany Lions, so it should prove as a good measuring stick entering the spring season.