Women's Golf Opens Season at NCAA Fall Preview
9/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Sept. 5, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.- The University of Alabama women's golf team tees off its 2008-09 campaign with a trip to Owings Mills, Md. to compete in the NCAA Fall Preview beginning Sept. 7. The tournament will give the pre-season No. 10 ranked Crimson Tide a chance to play the Caves Valley Golf Club course where this year's NCAA Championships will be held at the end of the season. Alabama has qualified and played in the NCAA Championships each of the past three years earning a 12th place finish in 2008.
"This will be our first time in the Preview and that is an honor within itself," head coach Mic Potter said. "The objective is to get used to the golf course. I feel good about the team we are traveling and I am happy where we are at and excited to start the season."
The Crimson Tide will play 36 holes to start the competition on Sunday and then finish off the tournament with another 18 on Monday.
UA returns its top four scorers from last year's team that finished the year ranked No. 13 in the nation. Senior Kathleen Ekey heads the group of returners and is coming off one of the finest seasons in program history in her first year at the Capstone after transferring from Furman.
Ekey's 73.30 scoring average in 2007-08 ranks her as the top scorer in UA women's golf history for a single season. In winning her first career individual title at the Crimson Tide Classic last season, the Wadsworth, Ohio native set the school record for low 18-hole score with a 65 (-7) in the final round. Ekey is listed as one of Golfworld's top 50 `Players to Watch' entering the 2008-09 campaign.
Rising juniors Helena Blomberg and Rhea Nair produced solid results in 2007-08 and will look for more of the same this year. Nair earned four top 10 finishes last season with Blomberg not far behind posting three top 10 results.
Sophomores Camilla Lennarth and Courtney Harter gained a wealth of experience in their first season for the Tide and will have an opportunity to contribute again this year. Lennarth ended last season as the team's second-leading scorer and was an all-region selection, while Harter joined Ekey as the only Tide players to earn an individual title in 2007-08 with her victory at the Wildcat Fall Invitational.
The Tide enters this season with a top 10 pre-season ranking according to both Golfweek and Golfworld for the first time in head coach Mic Potter's four year tenure. Potter has been instrumental in turning Alabama's program into one of the elite in the nation, leading the Tide to the NCAA Championship in three consecutive seasons for the first time in team history.
The Tide will face off against some the stiffest competition the nation has to offer at the NCAA Fall Preview. All 15 teams with the exception of host Georgetown are currently ranked in the top 20 of the Golfworld NGCA rankings.
Defending national champion USC heads the field of contenders who hope to make a return trip to the Caves Valley Golf Club in May for the National Championship. Other top five teams in the field include No. 3 Duke, No. 4 Arizona State and No. 5 Oklahoma State.
Four other SEC schools will join the Tide in the tournament including three ranked in the pre-season top 10. Georgia enters the season as the highest rated SEC team at No. 6 followed closely by Florida at No. 8, Auburn at No. 9 and Alabama at No. 10. Arkansas rounds out the SEC teams in the field and comes in ranked No. 15.
Alabama will continue its fall season at the Cougar Fall Classic at Yeamans Hall in Charleston, S.C. The Crimson Tide will open tournament play on Sunday, Sept. 14 and play three rounds of 18 holes that will end on Tuesday.
Players Mentioned
