Sept. 12, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Texas A&M women's golf team opens its fall season this week when the Aggies play host to the 2010 Fall Preview presented by Callaway Golf, the premier collegiate women's golf tournament of the fall season, at Traditions Club in Bryan.
Coming to College Station to get a crack at the course that will host the 2011 NCAA Women's Golf Championships are 15 of the top 25 teams from last year's NCAA Championships, including the defending champion and top-ranked Purdue Boilermakers. The tournament runs from Monday through Wednesday, with each round beginning at 8 a.m., and admission is free.
Joining the Aggies and Boilermakers in the field are No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 USC, No. 4 Alabama, No. 6 Duke, No. 7 Auburn, No. 8 Wake Forest, No. 9 Virginia, No. 10 Vanderbilt, No. 11 Stanford, No. 13 Georgia, No. 14 Pepperdine, No. 16 LSU, No. 17 Tennessee, No. 22 Tulane, No. 23 Michigan State, Arizona State (individuals only) and Texas.
"This is THE premier event in college golf during the fall season," said head coach Trelle McCombs, who was the Big 12's Coach of the Year in 2010. "To be able to get a look at the golf course that will host the national championship is a huge advantage, especially a course like Traditions. Having the ability to play this course day-in and day-out should give us some home course advantage. However, we will still have to take it one shot at a time. You cannot afford to get ahead of yourself on this golf course, it will bite you if you're not careful."
Purdue, USC, Alabama and Arizona State were the top four finishers at the 2010 NCAA Championships, and UCLA, Vanderbilt and Duke also posted top 10 finishes. The defending Big 12 Champion Aggies tied for 11th with Auburn at the NCAA Championships last year.
Among the top 10 individual finishers from the 2010 Championships expected to compete at the Fall Preview are: Purdue's Maude-Aimee LeBlanc (t-3rd), Auburn's Cydney Clanton (t-3rd), LSU's Megan McChrystal (t-5th), Alabama's Jennifer Kirby (t-7th), Stanford's Sally Watson (t-9th) and Purdue's Numa Gulyanamitta (t-9th). Also in the field is 2010 U.S. Amateur champion Danielle Kang, who is a sophomore at Pepperdine and finished 15th at the NCAA Championships.
The Aggies will tee off beginning at 8 a.m. on hole No. 1 and will be paired with USC and Alabama. Comprising A&M's lineup will be sophomore Sarah Beth Davis, freshman Chelsea Mocio, freshman Katerina Ruzickova, sophomore Aly Smith and senior Sarah Zwartynski, who placed 33rd at last year's championship and is A&M's top returning finisher from last year's NCAA squad. Freshman Janell Lysack will compete as an individual.
"Our field is jam-packed with golf's brightest stars of the future," McCombs added. "Golf is unlike any other sport because you can literally be only 15 yards from a player hitting her shot. I would encourage everyone to come out and watch these girls because this is the future of our sport right here in Aggieland."
Fans can follow the action through live scoring on www.golfstat.com.