PALM HARBOR, Fla. – The Penn State women's golf team will begin its spring 2022 campaign in the Sunshine State with a trip to the Big Ten Match Play Tournament at the Innisbrook Resort.
The event is new to the schedule this year on the women's side after the men have had success with such events in the past. A group of the Big Ten head coaches have been discussing the idea for a few years now and it has finally come to fruition with Ohio State serving as the host institution.
"We talked a lot this week about the difference [between stroke-play and match-play] because some of our team has more experience at match-play than others," mentioned head coach Denise St. Pierre. "[We talked] about how important it is to stick to your game plan and not let your opponent's play dictate the approach you should take with each shot.
[Match-play] is a great way to start the spring. It allows you to play a lot of golf and hopefully the players aren't feeling the stress of putting up a good 'golf number' and they're just out there playing hole-to-hole," St. Pierre concluded."
The two-day event features an 8:15 a.m. shotgun start on Monday morning for the opening round and after a reshuffle the second round will get underway with a shotgun start at approximately 1:15 p.m. The third and final round on Tuesday will feature an 8:00 a.m. shotgun start.
Live scoring for the duration of the tournament will be available HERE.
ABOUT THE COURSE
- Named to the Golf Digest's "Top 75 Golf Resorts in America" the Innisbrook Resort features four championship courses including the top-rated Copperhead Course, home of the PGA Tour's Valspar Championship held each March.
- The week's event will take place on the resort's original course, the Island Course, which is a Par-72, 6,344-yard masterpiece featuring picturesque views and challenging play with tight fairways, intimidating water hazards, abundant bunkers and extraordinary elevation change.
A HOMECOMING OF SORTS
- Upon graduation from Penn State in 1983, head coach Denise St. Pierre began her professional career at Innisbrook Resort where she completed her apprenticeship with the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) earning her Class A status prior to returning to Happy Valley in 1985.
- This marks St. Pierre's first trip back to Innisbrook since leaving in 1985 and while she doesn't remember much about the resort aside from the Island Course having the most fruit trees, she does remember working in the Proshop, which was so big it had its own shoe department, and selling legendary Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame head coach Tom Landry a pair of golf shoes.
"I remember selling Tom Landry a pair of golf shoes and he left his playbook on the seat," St. Pierre recalled. "I had to call his room and I said, 'Mr. Landry I have your book and I'm about to sell it to the Steelers'…he laughed and said someone will be right down to get it."
OPPONENTS
- Ten of the 14 Big Ten universities that sponsor a women's golf program will be participating this week as along with Penn State and the host Buckeyes, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers and Wisconsin will all make the trek south.
- The Nittany Lions will tee it up against Northwestern in the opening round on Monday with the winner facing off with the winner of the Ohio State vs. Minnesota match with the two losers of the matches battling it out in the afternoon round.
THE TEAM
- This week's event features six individual matches per team match with 3.5 wins needed to advance in pursuit of the tournament championship.
- The Nittany Lions lineup will feature senior Taylor Waller (Canonsburg, Pa.), junior classmates Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France) and Isha Dhruva (Katy, Texas) along with a trio of freshmen in Drew Nienhaus (St. Louis, Mo.), Katie Scheck (Greensboro, Ga.) and Jami Morris (Chagrin Falls, Ohio).
- Delavallade leads the team with a pair of top-five finishes during the fall season including her Individual Medalist honor at the Nittany Lion Invitational while her 73.33 stroke average is second on the team. Scheck fared well in both tournaments she participated in back in the fall including finishing T-29 at the Evie Odom Invitational and currently has a 73.67 stroke average. Waller also had her best finish of the fall at the Evie Odom Invitational coming in tied for 24th with a career-low 217 (7-over) and currently ranks fourth on the team with a 74.11 stroke average.