March 21, 2008
The No. 22-ranked Texas A&M women?â„¢s golf team will compete in the 36th annual Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic Friday through Sunday at the University of Georgia Golf Course.
Representing Texas A&M at the tournament will be sophomore Danielle McVeigh, freshman Sarah Zwartynsky, junior Lauren Johnson, sophomore Ashley Freeman and junior Jodi Neal. The Aggies are looking to rebound from a fourth-place finish two weeks ago at their home meet, the ?Mo? Morial Invitational.
?There is something about the resilience of these girls that I can't explain,? first-year Aggie head coach Trelle McCombs said. ?I know that we will not only take a bitter taste in our mouth to Georgia, but will also take everything we learned from our home tournament. I'm so excited to get back out there and compete again. I know that the last time we didn't have that great of a showing, that we bounced right back and took home second place and some hardware.?
Top-ranked Duke headlines this year's field, which includes 12 of the top-25 teams in the latest edition of the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. Following the Blue Devils are No. 6 Purdue, No. 10 Auburn, No. 11 Wake Forest, No. 12 Arkansas, No. 13 Georgia, No. 14 Alabama, No. 16 Tennessee, No. 18 Kent State, No. 20 LSU, No. 22 Texas A&M and No. 25 Vanderbilt. Rounding out the competition are Florida State, Furman, Kentucky, South Carolina, UCF and Virginia.
Tee times begin at 8:00 a.m. (CT) each morning. Saturday's tee times and pairings will be determined by first-round results. Sunday's round will feature a shotgun start.
An equally impressive individual field will be on tap, with seven of the nation's top-20 golfers. Top-ranked Amanda Blumenherst of Duke is the reigning National Player of the Year and ranked No. 1 in the nation, while Arkansas' Stacy Lewis, the 2007 NCAA individual champion, currently holds the No. 2 slot. Florida State's Caroline Westrup, who is ranked No. 15, won the Liz Murphey individual title in 2006 and will attempt to become just the fifth two-time champion in the event's history.