WILMINGTON, N.C. – The Penn State women's golf team will close out its 2022 fall slate at the 20th annual Landfall Tradition hosted by the University of North Carolina Wilmington this weekend.
One of the nation's top collegiate women's golf tournaments, the event is held 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.
The event has been held each fall dating back 2002, except for the 2020 fall season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Penn State is making its eighth-straight Landfall Tradition appearance. The Nittany Lions' best finish came during the 2018 event in which they finished eighth in the 18-team field. Penn State finished 15th in last year's event.
The three-day event features split tees beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday before a shotgun start at 8:45 a.m. on Sunday morning for the final round of competition.
THE TEAM
- Penn State will feature the same starting five from its previous tournament, the Evie Odom Invitational, as senior classmates Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France) Sarah Willis (Eaton, Ohio) and Isha Dhruva (Katy, Texas) join sophomores Drew Nienhaus (St. Louis, Mo.) and Michelle Cox (Allentown, Pa.) in the starting lineup.
- Delavallade paces the Nittany Lions with a 69.67 stroke average as she has registered a top-10 finish in each event so far this fall including a pair of top-5 finishes. Willis is second on the team with one top-5 and a 72.22 stroke average while Dhruva has added a 72.50 stroke average this season.
- As a team the Nittany Lions have had a strong Fall highlighted by a victory at their home invitational back in September and a fifth-place finish at the Evie Odom Invitational a month ago.
- Penn State has an 18-hole scoring average of 286.67 through the first three events this season.
THE FIELD
- The nationally known tournament features five of the top-25 teams including three in the top-10 of the most recent Women's Golf Coaches Association Division I Poll led by No. 2 Wake Forest, No. 4 South Carolina and No. 9 Duke. No. 15 Florida State and No. 19 San Jose State round out the ranked teams while UNC, Michigan and Michigan State are each receiving votes.
- Alabama, Central Florida, Furman, Maryland, NC State, Purdue, Tennessee, Virginia Tech and Penn State join the host Seahawks to complete the 18-team field.
Penn State will be paired with Big Ten foe Michigan as well as Tennessee during the opening round on Friday. The Nittany Lions will be starting on the back nine with tee times beginning at 8:30 a.m.