The Golden Flashes will compete in a field of 17 teams featuring 13 top 50 squads

KENT, Ohio – The Kent State women’s golf team head south this weekend for yet another challenging tournament field as Golden Flashes will take part in the 17-team Liz Murphey Collegiate Golf Classic March 30-April 1 at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga.

The tournament format features 18 holes each of the three days of the tournament. Tee times will begin both Friday and Saturday’s action beginning at 9 a.m. ET, with a 9 a.m. ET shotgun start for Sunday’s finale. Kent State will begin Friday paired with Auburn and Virginia off of the No. 10 tee from 9 a.m. to 9:40 a.m.

The University of Georgia Golf Course will play as a par 72, 6,6335-yard course. Live stats will be available through golfstat.com.

This is the ninth consecutive year Kent State will participate in the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, an event that celebrates its 40^th year this weekend. Kent State’s best finish came during the spring of 2009, when the Golden Flashes finished second in an 18-team field.

Scouting the Golden Flashes

Kent State finished in 14^th place out of 17 teams at the Lady Gator Invitational March 16-18, hosted by the University of Florida at Mark Bostick Golf Course.

Senior Mercedes Germino (Necochea, Argentina) moved up to a tie for 24^th place with a two-over 72 on Sunday for her final round. For her efforts, Germino was named the Mid-American Conference’s golfer of the week for the second time this spring.

Five golfers will be in action for Kent State at the Betsy Rawls Invitational; along with Germino, Kent State’s roster includes seniors Mandi Morrow (Kent, Ohio) and Shamira Marshall (Macedonia, Ohio), sophomore Erin Hawe (Walton, New Zealand) and freshman Jennifer Ha (Calgary, Alberta).

Scouting the Tournament Field

Kent State is one of 17 teams participating in the Liz Murphey Collegiate Golf Classic. Joining the Golden Flashes and the host Georgia Bulldogs are Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Augusta State, Denver, Florida, Florida State, Michigan State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Purdue, South Carolina, Virginia and Wake Forest.

Of the 17 teams, 13 are ranked in the top 50 by Golf Week’s Sagarin rankings, and all 17 are in the top 100 teams statistically. In the most recent release of Golf World’s coaches poll, five participating teams were in the top 25 (including No. 2 Alabama) while seven more received votes.

Alabama won last year’s tournament, which featured an altered format of the lowest four team scores hole-by-hole as opposed to round-by-round. This year’s tournament returns to the traditional format.

Next Up

Kent State is back to its home state of Ohio for the Lady Buckeye Invitational April 21-22, hosted by Ohio State.