UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's golf team is looking to use a strong showing earlier this week at the Cougar Classic to propel them into the weekend as they defend their Nittany Lion Invitational Crown.
After hosting its annual tournament on the Penn State White Course in celebration of 100 years of Penn State golf last season, the 2022 installment of the Nittany Lion Invitational will return to the more accustomed Blue Course.
ABOUT THE NLI
- The first-ever Nittany Lion Invitational was played in 1974 with this weekend marking the 23rd consecutive NLI to be contested during the fall season.
- Overall, the tournament has been held in the fall 32 times while taking place during the spring season on 13 different occasions with the last being in 1999.
- Including the 2021 NLI, Penn State has captured 24 tournament crowns including six of the last 11 and four of six with the only two they haven't won over that stretch being runner-up finishes.
- The Nittany Lions last captured back-to-back drowns in 2015 and 2016 before finishing second to Maryland in 2017 in search of the three-peat. Penn State regained the tournament crown in 2018 and finished second in 2019.
- Penn State has had 15 individual medalists including two on the current roster with defending champion Mathilde Delavallade joined by 2018 winner Sarah Willis.
- Willis holds the tournament record of 11-under (205) from her win in 2018 while Delavallade fell just one stroke shy during her 10-under (206) victory last September. During her victory Willis shot three sub-par rounds of 68, 70 and 67 at the Par-72 Blue Course and her 205 total is also a 54-hole Penn State school record.
- During last year's tournament, Delavallade led wire-to-wire with three sub-70 rounds with a 68 sandwiched between a pair of 69's.
- Penn State's 2018 final round score of 9-under, 279, is the second lowest 18-hole total in school history.
2021 NITTANY LION INVITATIONAL RECAP
- The Nittany Lions secured a program-record 13-under finish last year and saw many successes on the individual level as well, highlighted by Delavallade's strong weekend.
- Willis posted a career-low 6-under, 66, during the second round of play to tie her personal best and, at the time, set a Penn State 18-hole record while finishing the tournament fifth with a 4-under, 212, score. It marked the second-lowest finish of her career and tied for the sixth-best 54-hole score in program history.
- Then -sophomore Victoria Tip-Aucha (Vienna, Va.) was the third Nittany Lion to register a top-10 finish in the opening tournament of the year with her career-best score of 1-under, 215, good for ninth.
- Then-junior Isha Dhruva (Katy, Texas) also registered her best collegiate finish, at the time, in a tie for 11th after moving up 19 spots over the final day while carding a then-career-low 1-under, 71. Dhruva finished the weekend 3-over.
THE FIELD
- This year's field consists of the host Nittany Lions as well as 15 other schools from across the Midwest and Northeast.
- Those schools represented this weekend are Boston College, Bradley, Bucknell, Butler, Central Michigan, Columbia, Eastern Kentucky, High Point, Kennesaw State, Penn State, Richmond, Seton Hall, Toledo, Towson, Navy and Youngstown State.
- Each school will start five golfers with the four lowest scores counting toward the team total. Six individuals from Penn State along with single individuals from Boston College, Kennesaw State, Towson, Columbia and Bucknell as well as a pair of individuals from Seton Hall round out the 93-player field.
THE TEAM
- Penn State's starting five will feature four of the five players who participated in the Cougar Classic led by Delavallade and Willis along with sophomore classmates Drew Nienhaus and Michelle Cox while senior Isha Dhruva slots into the lineup for the first time this season.
- The remaining six Nittany Lions will compete as individuals with one Nittany Lion, freshman Myranda Quinton, making her Penn State debut. She is joined by senior classmates Taylor Waller and Lauren Freyvogel, junior Victoria Tip-Aucha and sophomores Katie Scheck and Jami Morris.
NEXT UP
Penn State takes the following week off before returning to the links with a trip to Norfolk, Virginia and the Evie Odom Invitational on September 30 through October 2.