The Bulls’ spring season opener takes place Monday and Tuesday at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club. Admission is free.
HOME EVENT: Old Friends Invitational
DATES: Monday, Feb. 17 (36 holes) – Tuesday, Feb. 18 (18 holes)
LOCATION: Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club
COURSE INFO: Par 72, 6,286 yards
ADMISSION: Free (each day begins at 8:15 a.m.)
FOLLOW: Live scoring | Twitter @USFWGolf
TAMPA, FEB. 16, 2020 – USF women’s golf is proud to open the spring season as the host of the Old Friends Invitational.
The Bulls’ inaugural home event begins Monday with an 8:15 a.m. shotgun start at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club. Seven programs will play 36 holes on the opening day of the tournament and action wraps up with 18 more holes Tuesday near USF’s Tampa campus. Admission is free.
Looking to continue “The Uprising” of the program, USF increased its strength of schedule for 2019-20. The Bulls will be tested often during their run of five regular-season spring tournaments leading up to The American Championship April 19-21 at Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, Fla.
Old Friends Invitational Field
Host USF, Brown, High Point, James Madison, Memphis, Richmond and Toledo.
The Lineup
1.Erika Smith – The freshman from Orlando looks to build more momentum following a solid fall season when she led the Bulls in scoring average (73.1), rounds of par or better (4) and top-25 performances (2). Smith set USF’s low-round record and tied the top mark for low round vs. par with a 6-under 64 in the final round of the Princess Anne Invitational (Oct. 6). The 2018 Rolex All-American also reached a new program milestone for 54-hole scoring with a 207 on the way to tying for fifth at the event.
2. Ramya Meenakshisundaram – The sophomore from Jacksonville, Fla., competed in all 12 rounds of USF’s fall season and eyes another strong spring. Meenakshisundaram earned all-conference honors in 2019 after setting program season records for scoring average (73.0) and par-4 scoring average (4.1066).
3. Jessica Whitting – The redshirt junior from Perth, Australia was in the lineup for all 12 rounds of the fall season. The transfer from Rogers State University secured her first top-10 finish as a Bull at the Lady Paladin Invitational on Sept. 29.
4. Sadie Dewinton-Davies – The senior from Newtown, Wales has teed off in all 40 of the team’s rounds since the start of the 2018-19 season, her first with the program. Dewinton-Davies is seeking her fifth top-25 finish as a Bull.
5. Ashley Zagers – The junior from Oldsmar, Fla., is in the lineup for the fourth straight event. This past fall, the 2018 Sunshine State Conference Freshman of the Year competed in all 12 of the team’s rounds in her first semester with the program.
Quotable
Head coach Erika Brennan’s thoughts heading into USF’s home event to open the spring season:
“We are thrilled to get things underway this spring. There has been an incredible uptick in the intentionality behind practices since the team returned from break, so we are interested to see how that translates. The course is familiar and it’s always exciting to get to play in front of a home crowd. They have taken tremendous ownership of their games and now it’s time to take it to the course and execute.”
Assistant coach Dalton Stevens on the Bulls’ offseason and spring schedule:
“The team has really dug in this offseason with our practices and we are extremely excited to get the spring season going. Our schedule has really improved, as we will be seeing some of the best teams in the country every time we tee it up this spring. It will be a great opportunity for the team as we continue the grow the program into something the University and the Tampa Community can be proud of!”
About USF Women’s Golf
Veteran head coach Erika Brennan completed her first full season with USF in 2018-19 and helped the Bulls become the second-fastest rising program in the country as they climbed 75 spots in the national Golfstat rankings. The Bulls opened the 2018 fall season with a runner-up finish at the USA Intercollegiate and also placed second at the FIU Pat Bradley Invitational to wrap up their four-tournament run before the spring. In the spring opener, USF captured the program’s first tournament team title since April 11, 2017 with a two-shot victory at the Florida Challenge. USF finished up the regular season with a 22-shot win at the John Kirk Panther Intercollegiate on April 2. Freshman Ramya Meenakshisundaram became the first Bull to earn all-conference honors since 2016.
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