Feb. 7, 2015

UCF Challenge Notes | Live Scoring

ORLANDO - The SMU women's golf team resumes its season by competing in the UCF Challenge hosted by American Athletic Conference rival UCF. The Mustangs last competed at the Alamo Invitational during the last weekend in October. The UCF Challenge will be played at the Eagle Creek Golf Club. SMU will face another strong field as 16 of the 18 teams qualified for the 2014 NCAA championships. Highlighting the field is Golfstat's No. 14 Vanderbilt and No. 17 Virginia.

Play begins Sunday for SMU. The Mustangs start on the 10th hole and tee off with Louisville and Texas at 8:39 a.m. CT.

UCF Challenge | Eagle Creek Golf Club | Orlando, Florida | February 8-10, 2015

2015 UCF CHALLENGE NOTES:
▪ The UCF Challenge is held at the par 73, 7,217-yard Eagle Creek Golf Club. The 54-hole tournament begins Sunday and concludes on Tuesday. The defending champion is also the host, UCF.

▪ 2015 will mark the 8th year of the UCF Challenge. This is the second year that tournament has been held at Eagle Creek. Previously it was held at the Redtail Golf Club. The first two years, the event was held at Villas of Grand Cypress.

▪ SMU finished in 14th at the 2014 UCF Challenge. As a team, SMU shot 20-over (884, 292-295-297). The Mustangs top finisher was Jenny Haglund who tied for fourth by shooting 3-under (213, 72-68-73).

▪ The Mustangs have participated in the UCF Challenge three times. Last season, SMU finished in 14th. In 2010, the Mustangs placed eighth. In the inaugural tournament (2007), SMU placed 13th.

▪ Live scoring can be found at birdiefire.com.

▪ SMU tees off Sunday with Louisville and Texas starting at 7:39 a.m. CT.

SMU'S LINEUP:
SMU will send Jennifer Park, Jenny Haglund, Alexandra Rossi, Lindsey McCurdy and Evelyn Dole to the 2015 UCF Challenge. This is the second tournament for Dole, who transferred to SMU this season from Virginia. She played at the Alamo Invitational and placed 62nd after shooting 11-over. Park, Haglund, Rossi and McCurdy are all regulars to the SMU lineup having participated in every tournament this season. Three of the Mustangs played in the 2014 edition of the tournament. Haglund took fourth, Park placed 63rd and McCurdy finished in 92nd.

LAST TIME OUT (THE ALAMO INVITATIONAL - OCT. 28):
SAN ANTONIO - The SMU women's golf had its best finish on the last day of the Alamo Invitational, which earned the Mustangs an eighth place finish. Alexandra Rossi and Jennifer Park both finished the tournament at 3-under for a share of 11th place. Rossi had the best day for SMU with her 3-under 69. The junior was par-or-better for the entire round. She shot 213 (76-68-69) for the event for her third top 20 finish of the year. Park also finished the event 3-under to be in the tie for 11th. The senior turned in her lowest score of the event with a 2-under 70. She was par or better in each round of the tournament (213, 71-72-70). Lindsey McCurdy ended the tournament on a high note with her lowest round of the year at 1-under 71. Overall she carded a 224 (78-75-71) over the 54-hole event. Evelyn Dole concluded her first weekend of competition as a Mustang. She was 1-over on the final day to bring her tournament score to 227 (75-79-73). Rounding out SMU's day was Jenny Haglund who rebounded from her from a Monday disqualification with a 73 in the final round.

SMU IN THE RANKINGS:
SMU ended the fall as No. 40 in the Golfstat rankings. Of the teams at the UCF Challenge, the Mustangs hold the 6th highest rank. Highlighting the field is No. 14 Vanderbilt, No. 17 Virginia and No. 21 UCF. Also ranked ahead of the Ponies is No. 29 Louisville and No. 32 Iowa State. Rounding out the field is No. 41 Tulane, No. 45 Miami, No. 47 Wisconsin, No. 51 Minnesota, No. 57 Campbell, No. 58 Texas, No. 61 East Carolina, No. 65 USF, No. 96 Texas State and No. 148 Western Carolina. Rollins College is No. 14 at the D-II level.

COACH SUTHERLAND:
Head Coach Jeanne Sutherland enters her fourth season on the Hilltop in 2014-15. Under Sutherland's instruction, the Mustangs have qualified for the NCAA Regionals each of the last two years. In the programs inaugural season in the American Athletic Conference, Sutherland coached the individual winner (Jenny Haglund) while coaching the team to a third place-finish.

SUTHERLAND SPEAKS:
"We have had some good practices since coming back from break. The team was a bit rusty in our short game but we will work on that. Lindsey won her first qualifier for us, which is very exciting. She had a strong first round. I love to see our younger players push their way to the top of the lineup,. Rossi had another great qualifier for us too. She had a rough first nine but closed strong. Jenny came back from break swinging better than I have seen in a long time too. The tournament has a very good field and we need to be at our best to win. That is the goal. We enjoy playing the course. It is tough but fair."