10/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Buckeyes travel to North Carolina to face competitive field
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s golf team wraps up fall play at the Landfall Tradition Oct. 22-24 in Wilmington, N.C. The 18-team field, which includes seven top 20 teams, will tee off on the par 72, 6,242-yard Pete Dye Course at the Country Club of Landfall.
The three-day, 54-hole tournament will begin with 8:30 a.m. tee times Friday and Saturday and will conclude Sunday with an 8:45 a.m. shotgun start.
TOURNAMENT BASICS
Name: Landfall Tradition
Course: Country Club of Landfall (par 72, 6,242 yards)
Field: 18 teams (Golfweek/Sagarin rankings)
Duke (5)
Florida State (43)
Michigan State (17)
North Carolina (13)
North Carolina State
Northwestern (42)
Notre Dame (19)
Ohio State (31)
Oklahoma State (23)
South Carolina (22)
Texas (29)
Texas Tech (46)
UCLA (4)
UNC Greensboro
UNC Wilmington
UT Chattanooga (47)
Virginia (8)
Wake Forest (16)
Schedule:
Friday, Oct. 22: 18 holes (8:30 a.m. tee times)
Saturday, Oct. 23: 18 holes (8:30 a.m. tee times)
Sunday, Oct. 24: 18 holes (8:45 shotgun start)
KEEPING AN EYE ON THINGS
Live scoring for the Landfall Tradition will be available at www.golfstat.com. A link to the tournament will also be available on the women’s golf schedule page at www.OhioStateBuckeyes.com. The Buckeyes are also now on Twitter at twitter.com/OhioState_WGolf.
THE OSU LINE-UP
Buckeyes heading to North Carolina include senior In Hong Lim, junior Vicky Villanueva, sophomores Rachel Rohanna and Amy Meier and freshman Alex Brown. The event will mark the fourth event of the season for Lim, Villanueva, Rohanna and Meier and the second for Brown who has participated in one tournament as an individual.
TEAM BOLIVIA
Ohio State will be without a key member of its squad this weekend. Susana Benavides, a sophomore from Cochabamba, Bolivia, will instead be in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to represent her home country in the 2010 World Amateur Team Championship. The tournament, which features teams from 53 countries, takes place Oct. 20-23 at the Olivos Golf Club and Buenos Aires Golf Club. Both courses are par 72 and measure 6,110 yards.
Featuring some of the best amateur golfers in the world, the biennial event was founded in 1958 by the International Golf Federation to encourage international development of the game and to foster friendship and sportsmanship. The team with the lowest 72-hole total will win the Espirito Santo Trophy for the next two years.
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Hosted by UNC Wilmington, seven teams from the 2010 NCAA championship will be in attendance at the Landfall Tradition including Texas, Duke, Florida State, Virginia, Oklahoma State, South Carolina and UCLA.
Of the competing squads, the Buckeyes have faced Northwestern, Texas Tech and Notre Dame so far this season. Ohio State has placed higher than Northwestern and Texas Tech at least once, but was edged by the Fighting Irish in their only meeting.
Since the inception of the tournament in 2002, 75 teams from 60 different schools and 14 conferences have played in the event. For UT Chattanooga, South Carolina, Texas and Texas Tech, the 2010 edition of the tournament will mark their debut at the Landfall Tradition.
MAKING RANK
In the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings released Oct. 17, Ohio State was tabbed as the No. 31 team in the country. In the individual ratings, sophomore Rachel Rohanna is the 50th individual in the nation and is the third-highest ranked player in the Big Ten.
At the Landfall Tradition, there will be three squads in the top 10, nine in the top 25 and 16 in the top 50. UCLA is the top squad competing with a No. 4 ranking, with Duke and Virginia close behind at No. 5 and No. 8, respectively.
Individually, Duke’s Lindy Duncan is the highest-rated individual at the tournament in the No. 8 slot, with Virginia’s Brittany Altomare at No. 10. Notre Dame and Wake Forest will also post top 20 athletes this weekend.
LAST TIME OUT
Previewing their Big Ten course and competition, Ohio State concluded the Lady Northern Invitational in third. Held Oct. 11-12 on the par 72, 6,303-yard Lake Shore Country Club in Chicago, Ill., the Buckeyes posted a team score of 883. Senior co-captain In Hong Lim collected the fourth top-5 finish of her career with a career-low 54-hole score of 215 (-1).
BUCKEYES AT THE LANDFALL TRADITION
The 2010 edition of the Landfall Tradition will mark the fifth time that the Buckeyes have competed at the event. Ohio State last appeared at the tournament in 2008 and placed second, its best finish at the tournament. With all five Buckeyes placing in the top 30, the team was led by Vicky Villanueva who tied for sixth.
Ohio State currently holds the tournament record for the lowest team score on a Sunday with a round of 285 in 2004. Also in 2004, former Buckeye Lindsay Knowlton tied for the lowest individual round on a Sunday with a 67.
AYE, AYE CAPTAIN
Before heading to North Carolina, Ohio State elected sophomore Rachel Rohanna and senior In Hong Lim as its captains for the 2010-11 season. The pair was the only two Buckeyes to compete in all 34 rounds of play last year.
Lim, a native of Melbourne, Australia, is the lone senior on the squad this year. In her time at Ohio State, she has competed in 93 rounds and currently posts a stroke average of 73.67 after three events this season.
In only her second season with the Buckeyes, Rohanna, of Waynesburg, Pa., has seen action in 42 rounds. After participating in three events this season, she posts the lowest stroke average on the team at 73.25. Rohanna opened the 2010-11 season with a second place finish at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational with a career-low total of 7-under 212.
A LOOK AT THE LINKS
The site of the 2010 NCAA Championship, the par 72, 6,242-yard Pete Dye Course at the Country Club of Landfall has played host to some of the top collegiate teams. Completed in 1987, the course features rolling hills, quick greens, challenging bunkers and ponds and is composed of Bermuda fairways and bentgrass greens.
WEATHER FORECAST
With highs in the 70s and 80s and sunny skies predicted for all three days of play, the www.weather.com golf index is “excellent” for Friday and Saturday and “very good” for Sunday.
NEW BUCKEYE
The Landfall Tradition will mark the second collegiate event for freshman Alex Brown. A native of Columbus, Brown was a First Team All-Ohio selection after concluding the 2009 Division I state golf tournament in a tie for fourth. A four-year starter and four-time state qualifier at Upper Arlington High School, Brown was also named Central Ohio Player of the Year in 2008.
20 YEARS UNDER COACH HESSION
The 2010-11 season marks the 20th year the Buckeyes are led by head coach Therese Hession. A former LPGA professional, Hession has molded the Ohio State golf program into one with a strong tradition of excellence. In her tenure, she has led the Buckeyes to seven Big Ten championships, 11 NCAA championship appearances and 16-consecutive NCAA regional appearances. Hession is an NGCA Hall of Famer and six-time Big Ten Coach of the Year.
UP NEXT
The Buckeyes will have a three-month hiatus before warming up for spring action with an Alumni Match Feb. 6 in West Palm Beach, Fla. From there, Ohio State will begin its spring schedule at its own Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes, Calif., Feb. 14-16.
