BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Penn State women's golf team concludes the 2020-21 regular season at the Indiana Invitational hosted by Indiana University and Kennesaw State at the Pfau Course this weekend.
Saturday will feature a continuous 36-hole session beginning with an 8:15 a.m. with tee times going off both holes No. 1 and No. 10 while Sunday's final round will also feature split tee times beginning at 8:15 a.m.
The tournament will serve as a good warmup for the Big Ten Championships the following week as all 14 Big Ten institutions will be represented in Bloomington as well as Kent State and Xavier to round out the 16-team field.
The tournament will also be played in the same format as the Big Ten Championships with a six count four scoring method as opposed to the more traditional five count four.
The 6,254-yard, par-72, Pfau course opened to the public just 10 months and the Indiana Invitational marks the first-ever women's collegiate tournament to be played on the grounds. Designed by highly-acclaimed architect Steve Smyers and two-time major winner and Hoosier native Fuzzy Zoeller, The Pfau Course opened to the public on June 15, 2020 and offers a unique, world-class layout that is set in the natural beauty of southern Indiana.
Among the notable features are 147 bunkers, greens that range in size from 4,145 to 10,014 square feet, and six sets of tees that extend to as much as 7,908 yards. Smyers utilized the area's natural topography in designing the course, while also highlighting the combination of forest, open space and forest edges that result in both amazing views and a wonderful golfing test.
It has already garnered national acclaim, as it was named the third-best New Course in the Country by Golf Digest and the fourth-best College Campus Course in the Nation by GolfWeek.
LAST TIME OUT
- The Nittany Lions struggled three weeks ago at the Pinetree Women's Collegiate finishing seventh in the 10-team field.
- Freshman Victoria Tip-Aucha (Vienna, Va.) paced Penn State climbing 11 spots over the final 18 holes finishing tied for 17th with a score of 224, 8-over, marking her highest collegiate finish.
- Junior Sarah Willis (Eaton, Ohio) finished 3-over for the day and 9-over for the tournament and tied for 21st.
- Willis currently leads the Nittany Lions this season with a 74.75 stroke average over 12 rounds of competition and she is the only current member of the team who has competed on the newly opened Pfau Course having participated in an amateur event in the fall.
THE TEAM
- Penn State's lineup has a few adjustments heading into Indiana as junior Taylor Waller (Canonsburg, Pa.) and senior Olivia Zambruno (Mount Pleasant, Pa.) draw into the starting lineup for the first time this season joined by Willis, Tip-Aucha sophomore Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France) and senior Megan McLean (Lebanon, N.J.).
NEXT UP
- The Nittany Lions are right back in action next weekend at the Big Ten Championships in Ohio on April 23-25.
Live scoring for the tournament is available HERE.