GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Penn State women's golf team returns to the Sunshine State this weekend to participate in the 47th annual Lady Gator Invitational at the Mark Bostick Golf Course on the Campus of the University of Florida.
The par-70, 6701-yard Bostick Course has been home to the Florida Gators since the 1960's and has served as the site of the Gator Invitational since 1978. Penn State finished tenth in the 13-team field last March finishing the tournament at 36-over, 876.
Penn State was led by then-freshman Sarah Willis (Eaton, Ohio) who climbed 24 spots on the final day to finish tied for ninth after firing a 2-under, 68, finishing the weekend at a 2-over, 212.
LAST TIME OUT
- Penn State struggled during the opening two rounds at the Hurricane Invitational earlier this week but bounced back with a solid final round finishing the tournament in tenth position.
- Playing as an individual in just her second collegiate tournament last weekend, freshman Isha Dhruva (Katy, Texas) carded the lowest round of her young career on the final day with an even-par, 72, matching five bogeys with five birdies including 3-of-4 par 5's. Dhruva finished the tournament tied for 31st at 12-over, 228.
- Freshman Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France) and senior Megan McLean (Lebanon, N.J.) paced the team through the tournament finishing tied for 27th at 11-over, 227.
THE FIELD
- A strong field of 12 teams is set to compete this weekend led by the four-time defending champion and ninth-ranked Florida Gators. Three other schools are featured in the top-50 of the golfstat.com rankings in Virginia Tech (No. 26), UCF (No. 43) and Michigan (No. 44).
- Tennessee, Campbell, Central Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Kansas and Daytona State join the Nittany Lions to round of the 2020 field.
- The teams will play 36 continuous holes of golf on Saturday with an 8:15 a.m. shotgun start followed by a single round on Sunday to conclude the championship with a 9 a.m. shotgun start.
THE TEAM
- Penn State's lineup remains consistent from last weekend with the exception of Isha Dhruva slotting into the starting five replacing junior Olivia Zambruno (Mt. Pleasant, Pa.) who will compete as an individual this weekend.
- Delavallade and McLean along with Willis and senior Maddy Herr (New Hope, Pa.) will round out the starting lineup for head coach Denise St. Pierre.
- Delavallade is currently pacing the team this season with a 73.44 stroke average in 18 rounds of competition while Willis is close behind at 73.61. Both players have a pair of top-10 finishes to their credit while Penn State as a team has four top-10 finishes after the results earlier this week.
- Willis leads the team with seven rounds this season of even-par or better while Delavallade and McLean each have four.
Live scoring for the tournament are available HERE.
BIRDIES FOR THE HEART
- The Nittany Lions continue their Birdies for the Heart Campaign to help raise money for the Barbara Streisand Women's Heart Center. After carding 37 birdies at the Hurricane Invitational, Penn State has now registered 231 birdies and look to build on that number moving forward.
- If interested in pledging please fill our THIS FORM or email head coach Denise St. Pierre at dxs10@psu.edu.
NEXT UP
- The Nittany Lions conclude this grueling stretch of three tournaments in a 15-day span when they travel to the Briar's Creek Invitational in Charleston, S.C. the following Monday and Tuesday, March 16-17.