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Sept. 30, 2005
2005 Wachovia-Great Smokies Intercollegiate Notes
Wachovia-Great Smokies Intercollegiate - Round 1 Pairings
Cullowhee, N.C. - For the seventh-consecutive year, the Western Carolina women's golf team is set to host the Wachovia-Great Smokies Intercollegiate this Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 1 and 2 at the par 72, 5,828-yard Waynesville Country Club in Waynesville, N.C. As in the previous six tournaments, 24-teams will visit Western North Carolina for one of the largest women's golf tournaments in collegiate golf.
The event kicks off Friday, Sept. 30 with practice rounds and an opening banquet in the main dining hall at the Club. The two-rounds will follow on Saturday and Sunday mornings, with shotgun starts at 9:30 am each day on the Carolina and Blue Ridge courses. Scoring for the tournament will include the top four individuals from the respective teams, with both a team and individual champion crowned on Sunday afternoon.
The three teams that have claimed the first six championships in the Wachovia-Great Smokies Intercollegiate headline the field again this year. Western Carolina is a three-time defending champion, having claimed the team title each of the past three seasons and the individual medalist for four years in a row. The 2001 champion Elon Phoenix and the only other repeat team title winner, Tennessee Tech (1999, `00), will be joined by 21 additional squads.
The popularity of the WCU event is apparent in that 20 of 24 registered teams are returning to the field, leaving four schools competing in their first-ever Wachovia-Great Smokies Intercollegiate; High Point, Ohio, Tennessee State, and Troy University. Absent from this year's lineup is defending Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) champion, Murray State, which had finished second the last three seasons at the Great Smokies. Xavier, who was third in 2003 and `04 and new Atlantic Sun-member, East Tennessee State, which has finished fourth over its past two trips to Western North Carolina, will look to make a run at the tournament title.
Opening ceremonies during the 2004 Great Smokies Intercollegiate at the Waynesville Country Club. |
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The two most recent individual champions both return to battle for the medalist honors again in 2004. Western Carolina's Brandy Andersen, who is the only two-time winner of the tournament, and teammate Ashley Hovda have claimed each of the past three individual crowns. Hovda won last year's rain-shortened event, firing an opening round 67, which was one-stroke off the all-time low of 66 carded by Andersen in 2002. Andersen also holds the distinction of tallying a hole-in-one on Number four on the Carolina Course (Par 3, 140 yards) in 2002.
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. Several holes at the facility were laid out by renowned golf course designer, Donald Ross, who also designed Pinehurst #2 which hosted last year's U.S. Open.
The two-round event begins with opening ceremonies on Saturday morning at 8:45 am and is open to the public.
2005 Wachovia-Great Smokies Intercollegiate Field Appalachian State Univ. Austin Peay State Univ. Belmont Univ. The Citadel Univ. of Dayton East Tennessee State Univ. Elon Univ. Gardner-Webb Univ. High Point Univ. Lipscomb Univ. Longwood Univ. Mercer Univ. Univ. of Mobile Monmouth Univ. Ohio Univ. Radford Univ. Univ. of South Alabama Tennessee State Univ. Tennessee Tech Univ. Troy Univ. Western Carolina Univ. Western Kentucky Univ. Wofford College Xavier University
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