CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Kentucky women’s golf team will face perhaps its toughest field of the regular season this weekend at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational, which features more than a handful of the top teams in the country.
Thirteen of the 18 teams in Tar Heel Invitational, which will be played Oct. 9-11 at the UNC Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, N.C., are ranked in Golfweek Magazine’s top-50 rankings. The Wildcats will try to crack those rankings with a strong showing at the 54-hole, three-day tournament.
Play will begin Friday at 9:09 a.m. with 18 holes, followed by the second round Saturday and the third round Sunday. The Cats will tee off Friday beginning at 10:39 a.m.
“We have a great challenge ahead of this week and I am excited about being back at this prestigious event,” head coach Golda Johansson Borst said. “I am very confident in the preparation that we have put in during the last two weeks and the team is ready to compete this weekend.”
The Tournament
Hosted by the University of North Carolina, Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational is annually one of the strongest tournaments of the season. This season is no different.
A remarkable 15 of the 18 teams in the tournament made last year’s NCAA regional field, including Kentucky. Perhaps more impressive is 10 of the teams in this year’s field were among the 24-team field at the 2015 NCAA Championship.
No. 2 Alabama, No. 4 Arkansas and No. 7 Duke, which won the national championship in 2014 and last year’s Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational, highlight the field. Also included is 2015 national runner-up Baylor.
Seven of the Southeastern Conference’s teams are in this weekend’s tournament.
The Course
Located in Chapel Hill, N.C., the UNC Finley Golf Course will play at 6,379 yards, par 72. The current course was designed by Tom Fazio and opened in 1999.
Admission is free and the public is encouraged to attend.
The Lineup
Sophomore Isabelle Johansson, junior Jordan Chael and sophomore Grace Rose will all appear in the lineup for a third straight tournament. Freshman Anna Hack, who made her Kentucky debut at the Mercedes-Benz Championship two weeks ago, will tee it up again for the Wildcats alongside senior Cylia Damerau.
Johansson has tied for 34th in both of her appearances this season and has three top-40 finishes over her last four tournaments, dating back to last season.
Chael has been an immediate contributor for the Wildcats after transferring from Nebraska. She posted a top-10 finish – the fifth of her career – at the season-opening Minnesota Invitational and carded a second straight top-40 finish at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Tennessee.
Hack, a Paducah, Ky., native, fired a 7-over par in the final round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship in her college debut.
What’s at Stake
Opportunity is on the doorstep of the Wildcats.
With quite possibly the toughest field UK will face this season, Kentucky has a great chance to bolster its NCAA Tournament résumé. UK’s goal in every tournament is to win the whole thing, but just finishing ahead of some of the nation’s top teams – which there are no shortage of in this week’s tournament – would make this tournament a successful weekend in the grand plan of the season.
After the Tar Heel Invitational, the Wildcats will have one final fall tournament before breaking for the winter.
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