Women’s golf prepared for the season 2021 Nittany Lion Invitational

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The Penn State women’s golf team will begin its Fall 2021 campaign this weekend as they host the 45th Annual Nittany Lion Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 4 and Sunday, Sept. 5.

After a year-long hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Penn State Nittany Lions will once again host their home tournament at Penn State Golf Courses this weekend. To celebrate Penn State Golf’s 100th anniversary, the tournament will return to its roots and compete on the white track for the first time in more than 10 years.

“Bunkers [on the White Course] are certainly harder, they are deeper and there will be more bunkers, “said the head coach Denise St.Pierre. “Overall, green complexes are also more challenging [than the Blue Course]. “

COURSE OVERVIEW

• Renovated in 2005, the white field offers a challenging alternative to the newer blue. With holes dating back to 1922, the shorter White Course offers smaller crowned greens that add character and require creative short play. Some of today’s top architects have photographed and studied a carved bunker made in the 1920s. Nearly 40 bunkers in front will force you to control your game as you try to shoot low scores.
• Elevation changes and deceptively placed fairways and green sideballs challenge distance management and depth detection.
• The white course par 3s turn out to be some of the most challenging you’ve played. This course will test your creativity. If you are unsure, hit and run.

ABOUT NLI

• The first-ever Nittany Lion Invitational was played in 1974, and this weekend it’s the 22nd consecutive NLI to compete this fall.
• In total, the tournament has been held 31 times in the autumn and has been held 13 different times during the spring season, most recently in 1999.
• Penn State has amassed 23 tournament crowns, five of the last ten. Nittany Lions finished second.
• Penn State has won 14 individual medalists, the most recent of which Sarah Willis in 2018, his tournament record was 11-under (205). Willis shot three par rounds on the 68, 70 and 67 Par-72 Blue Course, and his total of 205 was also a 54-hole Penn State school record.
• The Nittany Lions missed 11 shots that made it to the final five holes of the 2018 tournament, continuing to nine below that leg and tying Washington first place. Ashni Dhruva, a recent member of the Nittany Lion, the Fifth member of the team, finished one stroke better than the Fifth Player of the Huskies and secured a tie-break victory.
• The Penn State round score of 9-under, 279, is the second lowest 18-hole in school history.

FIELD

• This year’s field includes host Nittany Lions as well as 13 other schools across the Midwest and Northeast.
• These schools represented this weekend include Akron, Boston College, Bucknell, Delaware, Georgetown, Harvard, James Madison, Pennsylvania, Penn State, Princeton, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Towson, Youngstown State.
• Each school starts with five golfers and the four lowest points are counted towards the team’s total. Six Penn State individuals, as well as individuals from Rutgers, Boston College, Harvard, Seton Hall, Delaware, James Madison, Georgetown, Youngstown, Akron and Bucknell, complete the entire course of 87 golfers.

TEAM

• The five starting players for Penn State’s season opener are four returns and one freshman. Senior Sarah Willis (Eaton, Ohio) begins the fourth year in the starting lineup by joining younger classmates Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France) and Isha Dhruva (Katy, Texas). Second year student Victoria Tip-Aucha (Vienna, VA) gets his first crack at the Nittany Lion Invitational Drew Nienhaus (St. Louis, Mo.) rounds the starting reference.
• Willis followed the team during the shortened season 2020-21 with an average of 74.22 strokes, followed by Delavallade 75.11. Dhruva and Tip-Aucha finished third and fourth, averaging 76.13 and 76.67, respectively.
• The remaining six Nittany Lions will compete as individuals, and four will make their Penn State debut.
• Second year student Maria Arizaga placeholder image (Samborondon, Ecuador) makes his collegiate debut with freshmen Michelle Cox (Allentown, PA), Jami Morris (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) and Katie Scheck (Greensboro, Ga.).
• Younger classmates Taylor Waller (Canonsburg, Pa.) Yes Lauren Freyvogel (Gibsonia, Pa.) Rounds out a team that competes as individuals.

NEXT
Penn State will return to the course next Sunday through Tuesday (September 12-14) as they travel to the Cougar Classic, hosted by the College of Charleston in Hanahan, South Carolina.