OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University women's golf team will cap the fall portion of its season by taking part at the Little Rock Women's Golf Classic on Oct. 27-29 in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas.
The tournament, which is being hosted by Little Rock, will run Sunday through Tuesday at Diamante Country Club. The 54-hole/three-day event will feature a single round of 18 holes of competition each day. Action will begin with a tee-time start at 7:30 a.m. MT/8:30 a.m. CT on both Sunday and Monday. The tournament will then conclude with a shotgun start on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. MT/8:30 a.m. CT. Live scoring will be available throughout the event by visiting GolfStat.com.
A total of 16 teams will compete at the Little Rock Classic. Besides the Wolverines and the host Little Rock Trojans, WAC foes California Baptist and Kansas City, as well as Arkansas State, Bradley, Central Arkansas, Houston Baptist, Jacksonville State, Lamar, Missouri State, Stephen F. Austin, ULM, UT Arlington, UTEP, Western Kentucky, and Arkansas Tech will all participate in the tournament. WKU will enter the event with the highest current GolfStat ranking of 93, while HBU follows at 108, UTEP 122, Central Arkansas 130, and UVU 139.
The Wolverines will enter the tournament off of a 10th-place finish out of 18 teams at Seattle U's Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational with a 41-over-par 905 on Oct. 14-15. After opening with scores of 306 and 303, UVU finished the tournament strong by carding a final-round 296 to finish in 10th place.
Sophomore
Nathalie Irlbacher led the Wolverines at the Lesser Harbottle Invite by tying for 20th with a 6-over-par 222. After opening with a 76, Irlbacher then carded a pair of 1-over-par 73s to post a top 20 finish.
Senior
Kaylee Shimizu too had a strong outing at the Lesser Harbottle Invite by tying for 30th with a 9-over-par 225 (78-72-75). Fellow senior
Kate Williamson followed by tying for 38th with an 11-over 227 (73-80-74), while freshman
Victoria Estrada tied for 64th (79-78-75—232) and junior
Bailey Henley placed 86th (81-83-74—238).
Shimizu currently leads the Wolverines on the season with a 74.00 scoring average, while Irlbacher is right behind her with a 74.33 clip, and Williamson follows with an even 75.00 average.
The same five of Irlbacher, Shimizu, Williamson, Estrada and Henley will play for the Wolverines at the Little Rock Classic.
LAST YEAR AT LITTLE ROCK CLASSIC
A season ago, UVU placed seventh out of 16 teams at the Little Rock Women's Golf Classic with a 49-over 913 (305-311-297). Shimizu led the Wolverines at the event by tying for 10th with a 6-over-par 222 (74-71-77), while Irlbacher tied for 23rd with a 13-over 229 (79-80-70).
UP NEXT FOR UTAH VALLEY
The Wolverines will now take the winter months off and will resume the 2019-20 campaign on Feb. 10-11 at UC Riverside's Battle at the Rock at Oak Quarry Golf Club in Riverside, California. The event will mark the first of six scheduled spring tournaments for UVU.
