BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell opens its 2014 women's golf spring season this weekend against a top-flight field at the UCF Challenge in Orlando, Fla.
The 54-hole event begins Sunday morning and runs through Tuesday at the par-72, 6349-yard Eagle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Fla. The 19-school field includes 17 teams ranked among the top-100 in the Golfstat NCAA head-to-head listing.
Coach John Crooks' team won three times in six fall tournaments and carries a No.-59 national rating in the Golfweek Sagarin Rankings into the event. The Camels stand 11th in the country in short game percentage (.506), tied for 14th in birdies (167), 22nd in par-3 scoring (3.17), 23rd in greens in regulation (.634) and 31st in average score (74.8).
At Eagle Creek, Campbell will meet a field that includes 17th-ranked Tulane, No.-23 Iowa State, plus two Big Ten Conference schools rated among the nation's top 50 – Minnesota (39) and Wisconsin (48) – by Golfstat. Host UCF is ranked No.-26 in the country by Golfweek. Live scoring will be available at Golfstat.com.
For the first time in 23 years in charge of the Campbell women's program, Crooks will field a lineup that includes four seniors – Kaylin Yost, Ali Prazak, Maria Jose Benavides and Babette Lemberger – plus junior Lisbeth Brooks.
"We ask our kids to come to practice and work hard," said Crooks. "These young ladies have done everything we've ever asked and they've gotten better. So, I have the luxury of taking these five to Florida this week along with five very good ones who are staying home figuring out what they can do to get back in the lineup."
Yost is coming off a fall season where she won her third collegiate title, the Fighting Camel Fall Classic, and posted the second-lowest stroke average (74.0) among all Big South Conference golfers. A two-time Big South golfer of the week, Yost produced three top-10 individual finishes in six outings, including a runner-up showing at the UNCG Starmount Classic.
A resident of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Yost finished among the top-20 five times in six outings last fall. She is ranked No.-201 nationally in the Golfstat Cup rating.
Prazak, who hails from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, enjoyed the best semester of her collegiate career last fall when she compiled a 74.7 stroke average (8th-best in the Big South) and finished in the top-15 four times. She opened the season with an individual runner-up showing (70-73-72—215) at the Golfweek Program Challenge, where Campbell claimed the team title for the third-straight year.
Her fall season included her collegiate low round in the first 18 at the Golfweek Program Challenge, plus a sixth-place tie at The Patriot Intercollegiate Big South Preview and an 8th-place finish at the Fighting Camel Fall Classic. Prazak also tied for 15th at the Iowa Diane Thomason Invitational.
Benavides played in two events during the fall season and the native of Lerma, Mexico finished with a 79.2 stroke average. During her junior season, Benavides notched her first collegiate win at the 2012 Palmetto Intercollegiate, where she shot 73-69-71—213 to earn a second-straight top-10.
Lemberger, a former runner-up in the International Austria Junior Tournament, will be playing in her seventh collegiate outing after an exceptional performance in qualifying. The native of Vienna, Austria carries a stroke average of 79.0 over 3 rounds this season into the UCF event.
Brooks led the Big South Conference with four top-10 individual finishes last fall, when she compiled a 74.5 scoring average. The Waunakee, Wis., resident was fifth at the Golfweek Program Challenge, seventh at Starmount, sixth at The Patriot and fourth in the Fighting Camel Fall Classic. She recorded a collegiate low 67 in the second round of the UNCG event.
"We have a lot of depth and competition in our women's team," said Crooks. "They all have great attitudes, are healthy and we're looking forward to a lot of people representing our University this season."
The team victory at the Fighting Camel Classic was the 73rd in the 23-year coaching career of John Crooks, who stands second among all active NCAA Division I women's golf coaches in tournament wins.
Campbell's spring schedule also includes trips to the Hurricane Invitational in Coral Springs, Fla. (Mar. 3-5), the 3M Jaguar Invitational at Augusta, Ga. (Mar. 14-16) and the John Kirk Panther Intercollegiate at Stockbridge, Ga. (Mar. 30-Apr. 1).
The Big South Championship will again be held at The Patriot Golf Club in Ninety Six, S.C., Apr. 13-15, where Campbell will seek its 12th Division I conference title and a berth in the NCAA regionals for the 17th time in 22 years.
2014 UCF Challenge
Sunday-Tuesday, Feb. 9-11, 2014
Host: University of Central Florida
Course: Eagle Creek Golf Course
Location: Orlando, Fla.
Par: 72
Yardage: 6349
Format: 54 holes (18 each day)
Starting Time: 9:00 a.m. Sunday
Practice Round: Saturday, February 8
Live Scoring: Golfstat.com
Participating Schools (19): Campbell, East Carolina, East Tennessee State, Florida International, Georgia State, GRU Augusta, Iowa State, Kennesaw State, Kentucky, Miami, Minnesota, New Mexico, Southern Methodist, South Florida, Texas State, Tulane, UCF, Western Carolina, Wisconsin.
