Badgers set to host East-West Match Play
September 18, 2015 | Women's Golf
Sept. 18, 2015
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MADISON, Wis. -- The Wisconsin women's golf team will play host to the eight-team East-West Match Play Challenge Sept. 20-22, at University Ridge Golf Course.
The tournament mirrors the format of the NCAA championships, which combines 36 holes of stroke play to qualify the teams for two days of match play in championship and consolation brackets. Michigan hosted last year's event, which was won by Southern Methodist, in Ann Arbor. The Badgers finished fourth.
SMU returns to defend its title along with Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Oregon, Penn State, UC Davis and the host Badgers.
Play begins with 36-hole of continuous stroke play starting at 9 a.m. Sunday. The match play will resume off holes 1 and 10 Monday beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday's match play finals will begin off holes 1 and 10 at 8:30 a.m.
The Badgers enter the season just outside the Golfweek/Sagarin Top 50 at No. 55. UW returns three starters from its third-straight NCAA regional qualifying year and fourth in the last five years. The Badgers recorded the top two team scoring averages in school history the past two years, last year setting the record with 298.97 strokes per round.
Junior Brooke Ferrell earned All-Big Ten second team honors last year, finishing with the team's best season scoring average of 74.72 which also ranks first all-time. She placed first for the Badgers in five out of 11 tournaments and tallied a 72-75-77=224 in the 2015 NCAA Regional to lead the Badgers and tie for 20th overall.
Junior Michelle Cheung was only one of three Badgers to break 70 in 2014-15, averaging the third-best season average with a 75.61. She was UW's third player at the 2015 Big Ten championship with a 78-75-74=227 and placed 77th at NCAA regional with 80-82-75=237.
Sophomore Gabby Curtis competed in all 11 team tournaments, clinching the second-best all-time freshman scoring season average with a 76.03, which was fourth on the team and ranked 13th all-time in season averages. She tied the sixth-best 54-hole score in school history at the UCF Challenge (213) in route to earning the Big Ten Golfer of the Week on Feb. 11, 2015. The Altoona, Wis., native was UW's second golfer at the NCAA regional, as she tied for 41st with a 75-75-79=229.
Sophomore Becky Klongland competed individually in four of the Badgers' contests and three times on the travel team including the Big Ten championship and the NCAA regional where she finished tied for 54th and 78th, respectively.
Ali Nageotte finished last season with a 78.25 scoring average which ranks 10th among the all-time freshmen scoring records. She scored a career best 54-hole score at the Jim West Challenge with a 79-77-77=233 and tied for 33rd.
Over the summer, Ferrell won the Brown Deer Women's Amateur with an even par 72-72--144 and finished tied for second in the Phil Kosin Illinois Open with a 3-under 213, tying her 54-hole personal best. Curtis won her first Wisconsin State Women's Open title June 18 with a 3-under par 68-71 - 141, while Klongland won her second-straight state am title with a 2-over 71-73-71--215.
The Badgers began the fall season at the Cougar Classic Sept. 13-15, finishing 17th in the prestigious 20-team field with a 63-over 303-315-309--927. Gabby Curtis was the top UW finisher tying for 35th with an 8-over 70-80-74--224.
East-West Match Play Challenge Schedule
Sunday, Sept. 20
Tee Times:
9:00 a.m. shotgun start for rounds 1&2 continuous play for 36-holes.
Monday, Sept. 21
9:00 a.m. match play - tee times begin off holes 1&10
Tuesday, Sept. 20
8:30 a.m. match play - tee times begin off holes 1&10
2 p.m. Awards ceremony
Players Mentioned
