Mississippi State’s women’s golf team will compete in the Lady Paladin Invitational Golf Tournament Friday through Sunday at Furman University in Greenville, S.C.The Lady Bulldogs will be competing with 18 other teams including Notre Dame, Coastal Carolina, Ole Miss, host Furman, Northwestern, Texas Christian, Louisville, Memphis, and South Florida.
During the three-day event, the Lady Bulldogs will be playing 6,284 yards, which head coach Christi Sanders said is a good length for collegiate golf.
Sanders said she feels like the team is ready to get back into competition, especially with the improvement she has seen in the team.
She said she was pleased with the team’s finish at Lexington, Ky. in the Wildcat Fall Invitational two weeks ago.
After holding in 8th place through the first two rounds, the Lady Bulldogs moved up to 5th place out of 14 teams with a score of 303 in the final round and grabbing their first top five finish of the season.
Sanders said the team’s improvement on the final day was impressive, especially with the wind blowing hard.
Sanders said the team feels like it is well-prepared for the tournament, having had a two-week break from competition.
The five-player lineup for the tournament is a young one with freshmen leading the tournament.
Freshmen Mallory Batson and Erika Thornton go into the tournament with average strokes of 75.33 and 76.67.
Senior Juli Huh will lead the team in experience. She currently has a 76.50 stroke average, which is twice as high as last season’s average.
The last two players on the Lady Bulldogs’ lineup will be sophomore Gina Sharp, who has played in eight tournaments, and sophomore Suzanne Stanley, who has a stroke average four times higher than last year’s.
Sanders said they are going into the tournament with hopes of getting off to a good start.
She said she hopes the team will be in contention on the second day and will play strong and have a shot for the win on the third day.
“This tournament is just one stepping stone to regionals,” Sanders said. “This fall we must play good. Spring is just as important as the fall.”
Several teams will be a threat to take home the win in the tournament, Sanders said.
“With Furman being the host, we expect them to be competition,” Sanders said.
Augusta and Notre Dame also look to be threats for the Lady Bulldogs after already having a couple of victories this season.
Sanders said she expects Louisville to be strong competition as well because they are coming off a strong season and are playing strong so far this year.