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The 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Women's Golf Championship will tee-off next week on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in the state of Alabama. The 54-hole women's championship will be held April 17-19 at Hampton Cove in Owens Cross Roads, Alabama (just outside Huntsville).
The OVC women's golf title will be contested amongst the nine women's teams that sponsor the sport - Austin Peay, Belmont, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Morehead State, Murray State, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech. The student-athletes will begin with a practice round on Sunday before the opening round starts on Monday at 8:00 a.m.
The annual awards banquets will be held following the first round of play on Monday, April 17. The banquet will honor the 10-member All-OVC team as well as the All-Newcomer Team and Freshman of the Year. The OVC Player of the Year, Coach of the Year as well as All-Tournament and Tournament MVP awards will be presented at the conclusion of the championship.
Eastern Illinois will be led by junior
Anne Bahr and seniors
Chloe Wong,
Alexandra Pickens and
Madison Burgett. Sophomore
Hannah Magda will be the final EIU golfer at the championship. The three players have been the Panthers top performers throughout the year with Bahr holding a 79.50 stroke average this season. Wong is averaging 81.44 for the season.
Carrie Riordan won OVC medalist honors in 2009 and EIU's best 54-hole total at the OVC Tournament was 968 in both 2008 and 2009. EIU's best team finish was second place in 2003.
Hampton Cove, the northern gateway to the Trail, is a 54-hole facility with terrain that drastically changes from one side of the property to the other. Renovated in 2008, The Highlands course has been restored to its original Scottish Links design. The finishing holes are scenic and challenging and one of the most recognizable landmarks on the Trail is the old mule barn beside the fifth hole.
For the OVC Women's Championship the course will be par 72 with a yardage of 6,050. This mark the third-straight year the OVC Championship has been contested at Hampton Cove. Last year Eastern Kentucky won its second-straight (and fourth overall) OVC Championship with an 18-stroke victory.
Defending champion Eastern Kentucky has won five of the 10 events it has entered this season and all but one of its finishes has been in the top four overall. The Colonels have been paced by Mississippi State transfer Elsa Moberly has leads the OVC with a 73.8 stroke average and who has been named OVC Golfer of the Week six times in 2016-17. Moberly has four victories this season and has been in the Top 10 in nine of her 10 starts. Sofie Levin, who captured the 2015 OVC Medalist crown at Hampton Cove, currently ranks eighth in the OVC in stroke average (75.6).
Murray State has won the most OVC women's golf championship (nine), last winning the crown in 2014. The Racers bring momentum into the Championship, having won their last three events including topping the field by 24 shots at their own invitational last week. Junior Moa Folke, last year's OVC Medalist, enters the postseason ranked second in the OVC in stroke average (74.0). She has a pair of first-place finishes this season and has placed in the top five in six of her 10 events. Freshman Lucila Puente Rodriguez de Austria is third in the OVC in stroke average (74.3) while sophomore Linette Holmslykke is fifth (74.5).
Jacksonville State, who has won five OVC Championships, is paced by sophomore Valentina Giraldo who has averaged 74.4 strokes per round this season (fourth best in the OVC) while sophomore Karina Kukkonen is at 74.6 (sixth).
