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 For the 11th-straight season, the Waynesville Inn - Golf Resort and Spa will host the Great Smokies Intercollegiate. |
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Sept. 17, 2009
2009 Great Smokies Women's Intercollegiate Record Book 
Cullowhee, N.C. - A combined 23 teams, including four making their first-ever tournament appearance, will square off vying for both team and individual titles as Western Carolina and the Catamount women's golf team play host to the 11th-annual Great Smokies Women's Intercollegiate, presented by the Wolf Creek Tree Farm and Nursery of Tuckasegee.
The event, which began back in 1999, will again be held at the par 72, 5,922-yard Waynesville Inn - Golf Resort in Spa in Waynesville, N.C.
The 2009 Great Smokies Intercollegiate, presented by the Wolf Creek Tree Farm and Nursery, will consist of three days of golf beginning on Friday, Sept. 18 with practice rounds starting at Noon. The two-round, 36-hole tournament will begin with a shotgun start at 9:00 am on Saturday, Sept. 19, with the final round also teeing off with a shotgun start at 9:00 am on Sunday, Sept. 20.
"We are once again very excited about hosting the Great Smokies Women's Intercollegiate," said Western Carolina Director of Golf and women's head coach Steve Lott. "Through the support of many friends of our program, varying golf courses, and especially the Waynesville Inn - Golf Resort and Spa, we are looking forward to this 11th year of this event to be just as successful for both our squad, our program, school and community."
Lott added, "We are again very pleased to be holding the tournament in Waynesville and at the Waynesville Inn facility. It is a great venue for golf and is a great place to have a women's college golf tournament. They really help us put on an extra special event."
The Waynesville Inn - Golf Resort and Spa - previously referred to as the Waynesville Country Club - was established in 1926, nestled on the hills and valleys of Western North Carolina. The 27-hole course sits on a former dairy farm and features rolling fairways ending in bent grass greens. The course was designed by renowned golf course designer, Donald Ross, who also designed Pinehurst #2 which hosted the 2005 U.S. Open. Golf Digest gave the Waynesville Inn - Golf Resort and Spa a four-star rating.
Teams will once again play the Carolina and Blue Ridge courses with similar yardages from a year ago. The Carolina course will play 2,981 yards with Blue Ridge, which features three par 3 and three par 5 holes, measuring out to 2,941 yards to make up the 5,922-yard course.
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Western Carolina has won six of the 10 team titles all-time, including edging Southern Conference foe, Wofford, by five strokes a season ago. The Catamounts have also claimed individual medalist honors five times, but are amidst a three-year void
In addition to the Catamounts, the two other past tournament champions - Elon (2001) and Tennessee Tech (1999, 2000) - will also be in this year's field along with 16 other schools making return trips to the mountains of Western North Carolina. Four schools - Bowling Green, Saint Leo (Fla.) University - which is coached by former Catamount, Erika Danford Brennan, Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) and South Carolina State - will make their first-ever trips to Waynesville for the tournament.
Defending medalist, Lorie Warren of Belmont, has graduated leaving just returning senior Staci Lynch of Austin Peay as the only previous individual champion in this year's 120-golfer field. Lynch, who won the 2006 individual title with a two-day total of 140 (71-69) finished tied for 79th a season ago.
Three of the top five finishers from a year ago return to this year's tournament including third-place finisher, senior Diana Carson of Tennessee Tech. WCU's Blaire Minter and Elin Mickelsson both finished tied for fourth a season ago and return to action this weekend.
Practice rounds begin at Noon on Friday, with both the first and second rounds on Monday and Tuesday mornings, respectively, teeing off at 9:00 am. Admission is free and the tournament is open to the public.
Full recaps and results will be made available online at www.CatamountSports.com at the conclusion of both rounds Saturday and Sunday.
GREAT SMOKIES INTERCOLLEGIATE NOTES:
* A total of 55 different teams have participated in the event all-time ... the 2009 tournament features 23 teams from nine different states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia) including four - Bowling Green, Saint Leo University, Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) and South Carolina State - making their first-ever tournament appearance;
* Three of the four all-time tournament team champions will be in competition: Tennessee Tech ( 1999, 2000); Elon (2001) and Western Carolina (2002, '03, '04, '05, '06, `08) - the only champion squad not in attendance is Chattanooga (2007);
* Western Carolina has won six-of-the-ten team titles at the Great Smokies Intercollegiate ... the Catamounts have also had the individual medalist in five of the past eight seasons, but are amidst a three-year drought;
* Current Tennessee Tech assistant coach, Kylie Crouch, won the inaugural Great Smokies Intercollegiate back in 1999;
* Ashley Hovda Kress, a 2006 WCU graduate and former two-time Great Smokies champion (2004, '05), returns as the tournament director for Catamount head coach Steve Lott ... Hovda continues to hold the tournament 36-hole record of 134 set in 2005 while also standing tied with two others for the individual low round of 66;
* As a squad, Western Carolina's golfers have a combined three career individual championships overall including two by Blaire Minter last season and one by Josefine Sundh at the 2009-10 season-opening Draper Valley Intercollegiate ... All told, WCU has 25 career top 10 finishes among its roster including 12 by Desiree Karlsson; six by Sundh; four by Minter; two by Elin Mickelsson; and one by freshman Malin Jansson.
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