Women's Golf Opens Season at Home Monday
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico women’s golf team is gearing up to kick off the fall season at home as it hosts the 41st annual Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational at the 6,317-yard, par-72 UNM Championship Golf Course Monday, Sept. 9 through Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Fans are encouraged to come out to the course to cheer on their Lobos. Additionally, fans will be able to follow the action via Golfstat live stats. To view live stats, click HERE.
The tournament will mark the first of four fall events and five spring events on the Lobos’ 2019-20 schedule.
The field for the season-opener consists of 15 squads including five Mountain West competitors: New Mexico, Colorado State, UNLV, Nevada and San Diego State. The rest of the field includes UC Davis, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Kent State, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Nebraska and Pepperdine.
Of the 15 competitors, two teams reached the 2019 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship last season including Kent State which finished 17th overall and and Indiana which landed in 21st.
Last year at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational, the Lobos carded a fifth-place finish as their three-round total of 868 (+4) was just five strokes behind second-place Pepperdine and 10 strokes away from first-place Kent State. The squad was led by former senior Darian Zachek who tied for second overall with a score of six under, 210. She was followed by senior Reva Morris who tied for 19th with a score of 218 (+2).
UNM will return four competitors from last season to the 2019-20 roster including the squad’s sole senior Reva Morris, junior Caroline Jansson and sophomores Tiana Cruz and Kamie Hamada. In addition to the returners, the Lobos will also debut five new players including transfer junior Serena Chon and freshmen Chloé Lauer, Lauren Lehigh, Napat “Jenny” Lertsadwattana and Alice Rindestig.
Chon joins the Lobos as a transfer from UC Riverside where she played her freshman and sophomore seasons. Among the freshman representing UNM this season, Lauer, Lertsadwattana and Rindestig are all coming from overseas while Lehigh joins the squad out of Loveland, Colo.
Following the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational, UNM will head to the Cougar Cup hosted by Washington State on Sept. 16-17 before heading to the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational hosted by Texas on Oct. 12-13. The Lobos will wrap up the fall season in Nassau, Bahamas as they compete in the White Sands Invitational hosted by Houston on Oct. 28-30.
Round one of the 2019 Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational will tee off with a shotgun start on Monday at 7:30 a.m. and will lead directly into round two. The third and final round will tee off on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. Fans are encouraged to come out to the UNM Championship Golf Course to cheer on the Lobos!