Women's Golf Opens the Fall Hosting the 50th Nittany Lion InvitationalWomen's Golf Opens the Fall Hosting the 50th Nittany Lion Invitational
Mark Selders

Women's Golf Opens the Fall Hosting the 50th Nittany Lion Invitational

First-Ever Happy Valley Individual to be Contested Simultaneously on the White Course

nittany lion invitational - 50 years logo

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's golf team is poised to defend their Nittany Lion Invitational Crown this weekend at the Penn State Blue Course while the first-ever Happy Valley Individual will be contested on the White Course.

For the first time in tournament history, Penn State has decided to split the field for the 50th-annual event. A full field of 18 teams comprised of 90 golfers will compete for the Nittany Lion Invitational crown on the Blue Course while 45 individuals across those 18 teams battle it out for the first-ever Happy Valley Individual Crown across the grounds on the White Course.

The Invitational will feature 36 holes of continuous play on Monday followed by the final round on Tuesday while the Individual will be contested over 36 holes with single 18-hole rounds each day. Shotgun starts are slated for 9 a.m. on both courses each morning.

The layout for the week on the Blue Course will be a 6,363-yard, par-72 while the White Course features a slightly shorter par-72 layout of 6,164 yards with an unconventional five par 3’s and five par 5’s.

Live scoring for the Nittany Lion Invitational can be found HERE with Happy Valley Individual scoring HERE.

NLI2026_Lineup

ABOUT THE NLI

  • The first-ever Nittany Lion Invitational was played in 1974 with this weekend marking the 27th consecutive NLI to be contested during the fall season and the 50th annual event.
  • Overall, the tournament has been held in the fall 36 times while taking place during the spring season on 13 different occasions with the last being in 1999.
  • Including last season’s event, Penn State has captured 26 tournament crowns including eight of the last 14 and six of 10 with a pair of runner-up finishes over that stretch as well.
  • Penn State has had 15 individual medalists with the last being Mathilde Delavallade in 2021.
  • Sarah Willis ‘22 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 in 2021.
  • Penn State's 2018 final round score of 9-under, 279, is the second lowest 18-hole total in school history.
  • Yale’s Mia Sessa earned medalist honors last season with a three-round total of 5-under, 211, leading the Bulldogs to a third-place finish in the event.

LAST YEAR’S EVENT

  • In a back-and-forth final round which saw multiple lead changes between four teams, Penn State regained their Nittany Lion Invitational Crown after a two-year hiatus ekeing out a one-stroke victory over the charging Delaware Blue Hens.
  • The team championship was the first in the head coaching career for Kristen Simpson and the first of two secured last fall as the Nittany Lions also secured a share of the Evie Odom Invitational in Virginia Beach.
  • Following a bogey on the par-3 17th, freshman Audrey Lam went pin-seeking on 18 and even after clipping some leaves she stuck one within a few feet for a tap in birdie which ultimately secured the team championship for the Nittany Lions.
  • Lam finished the week as one of just five players in red figures at 1-under, 215, registering her first collegiate top-5 finish in a tie for fourth, just four strokes behind Yale’s Mia Sessa who earned individual medalist honors at 5-under, 211.

THE FIELD

  • This year’s field consists of the host Nittany Lions as well as 17 additional teams.
  • Akron, Bucknell, Delaware, Duquesne, Harvard, James Madison, Lehigh, Maryland, Penn, Quinnipiac, Richmond, Seton Hall, St. Joseph’s, Towson, Virginia Tech, Yale and Youngstown State.
  • Each school will start five golfers with the four lowest scores counting toward the team total.
  • The Nittany Lions will be paired with Maryland and Virginia Tech for the first 36 holes on Monday and will go off holes one through three with a 9 a.m. shotgun start.

THE TEAM

  • Penn State’s starting five for the Nittany Lion Invitational will feature junior classmates Jiratchaya Jiratthitinun, Hannah Rabb, Lauren Thompson and Zeynep Sualp while sophomore Mara King rounds out the group.
  • Over on the White Course, sophomore classmates Lillian Guleserian and Audrey Lam are joined by freshman Madison Koshko to compete for the first-ever Happy Valley Individual championship against 42 other competitors.

NEXT UP

Following a week off, Penn State travels to the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational in Lexington, Kentucky on September 21-22.