Alabama Women’s Golf Begins Spring Season at Moon Golf Invitational

MELBOURNE, Fla. – It's been more than three months since the No. 9 University of Alabama women's golf team concluded its fall season with a tournament win and at last the Crimson Tide begins its spring season at the Moon Golf Invitational Feb. 20-22 at Suntree Country Club (Classic Course) in Melbourne, Fla.

Alabama will tee off in the first round Sunday, Feb. 20 at 8:50 a.m. CT on No. 1, paired with Arkansas and Duke.

Fifteen teams will compete on the par-72, 6,417-yard track, which will feature nine Golfstat.com Top 25 teams and five Golfstat.com Top 10 teams. The field includes hosts Louisville, No. 3 South Carolina, No. 6 Arkansas, No. 7 Florida, No. 8 Virginia, No. 9 Alabama, No.15 Baylor, No. 17 Auburn, No. 19 Duke, No. 21 LSU, Augusta State, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina and UCF.

The Crimson Tide sports a 10-2 record against the field in tournaments in 2021-22, sweeping the Louisville Cardinals, the Arkansas Razorbacks, the Florida Gators, the Auburn Tigers, the LSU Tigers and the North Carolina Tar Heels in meetings so far this season. The Tide split with the Duke Blue Demons, 1-1, and trailed the South Carolina Gamecocks in tournaments last fall.

The Moon Golf Invitational will mark Alabama's first pairing with Augusta State, Baylor, Florida State, Miami, UCF and Virginia this season.

From Head Coach Mic Potter

"Expectations are high. We had a really nice fall, which culminated with a win at Old Waverly, our first win in a couple of years. Benedetta (Moresco) also had an individual win. Wins are great but playing well is really the key in being sustainable. We got some good work in this winter. We went to Arizona on a team training trip in the middle of January. I was very happy with where we were. You never can tell though, because we've had a lot of wet and cold, really cold, weather. We did a lot of grinding, and scores may not indicate where we are scoring wise. But we are excited to go to Melbourne, Fla."

The Lineup

The Crimson Tide's lineup at the Moon Golf Invitational will feature sophomore Benedetta Moresco, fifth year Polly Mack, graduate student Angelica Moresco, junior Emilie Øverås and freshman Isabella van der Biest.
- It will mark van der Biest's first appearance in the lineup.
Junior Sarah Edwards will compete as an individual.
Four of the five players in the lineup contributed 50.0 percent or more of their rounds to the team score last fall.
- All 12 of Mack's round counted toward the team score.
- B. Moresco had 11-of-12 rounds counted (.916), A. Moresco had 10-of-11 rounds counted (.909) and Øverås had 9-of-12 rounds counted (.750).
  - A. Moresco sat out one round at the Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational on Oct. 15 because of illness.
B. Moresco is currently ranked fourth in the nation, according to Golfstat.com, on a 69.74 stroke average in fall action.
- The sophomore reported scores of par or below in 10 of her 12 rounds.
- She capped the fall season with an individual tournament title at The Ally after breaking the Crimson Tide's program record for lowest first-round total (9-under-par 63), lowest 36-hole total against par (6-under-par 66), and lowest 54-hole total against par (19-under-par 197).
Mack, who also reported scores of par or below in 10 of her 12 rounds last fall, advanced to the final tournament of the 2021 LPGA Q-Series in Mobile, Ala., Dec. 2-5.
- She competed in four rounds, missing the cut to advance to the final eight rounds by just one stroke (288).
B. Moresco and Mack finished in the top 15 in every fall tournament, while B. Moresco had two top-five finishes.

Tournament Preview

The Moon Golf Invitational is annually hosted by Louisville.
The tournament will be held at the Suntree Country Club (Classic Course), a par-72, 6,412-yard track in Melbourne, Fla.
The tournament field consist of 15 teams, nine of which are ranked in the top 25 and five of which are ranked in the top 10, according to Golfstat.com.
The teams will compete in a 54-hole, stroke-play format.
The highest ranked individual in the field is No. 3 Ingrid Lindblad, a junior at LSU.
- She has a 70.81 stroke average. She finished under par in three of four fall tournaments and tied for first place at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup last October on a 1-over-par 217. Lindblad produced four top-10 performances last season.

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