WILMINGTON, N.C. – The Penn State women's golf team will close out its 2021 fall slate at the Landfall Tradition hosted by the University of North Carolina Wilmington this weekend.
One of the nation's top collegiate women's golf tournaments, returns after a one-year hiatus, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this week at the Country Club of Landfall's pristine Pete Dye Course. The course features a Par-72, 6,150-yard rolling layout along the scenic intracoastal waterway near Wrightsville Beach.
Following the off year, 2021 marks the 19th-annual event which dates to 2002 and this is the seventh-straight Landfall Tradition the Nittany Lions have been a part of. Penn State's best finish came during the 2018 event in which they finished eighth in the 18-team field.
Then-freshman Sarah Willis (Eaton, Ohio) carded a final round 75 (3-over) to finish tied for 24th at 9-over for the week.
The three-day event features split tees beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday before a spooky shotgun start at 8:45 a.m. on Halloween morning.
THE TEAM
- Penn State will feature the same starting five from its previous tournament, the Evie Odom Invitational. Willis and classmate Taylor Waller (Canonsburg, Pa.) are joined by junior classmates Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France) and Isha Dhruva (Katy, Texas) along with freshman Drew Nienhaus (St. Louis, Mo.) in the starting lineup.
- Willis paces the Nittany Lions this fall with a 72.58 scoring average while Delavallade and Waller are tied at 73.17. Delavallade leads the. Team with a pair of top-five finishes including her Individual Medalist honor at the Nittany Lion Invitational.
THE FIELD
- The nationally known tournament features six of the top-25 teams in the most recent Women's Golf Coaches Association Division I Poll led by No. 4 Virginia, No. 7 Texas, No. 8 South Carolina, No. 9 Michigan, No. 11 Wake Forest and No. 16 Florida State.
- In addition, three other programs, Purdue, UCF and Virginia Tech, each received votes in the WGCA Division I poll. Clemson, Furman, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan State, NC State, North Carolina and Penn State join the host Seahawks to complete the 18-team field.