Women’s Golf Center: Cougar Classic

CHARLESTON, SC 30^thTennessee women’s golf program season as well Diana CantuThe Rocky Top era begins this week as Lady Vols begins season 2021-22 at the 17th annual Cougar Classic in Charleston, South Carolina.

The tournament, hosted by the College of Charleston, is a two-day, 54-hole event, with opening rounds scheduled for Monday and then a third round on Tuesday.

There are 17 teams on the field, six of which are on the teamGolf State Top 25, with eight people.

Lady Vols opened the 2005-06 season by winning the team title at the Cougar Classic, and Marci Turner claimed the tournament’s personal title after qualifying for 212 cards. that year.

LADY VOLSIN LINEUP
Bailey Davis

Well respected freshman Bailey Davis, White Plains, Maryland, will begin her Lady Vol career on Monday. The three-time Maryland Girls 4A State High School champion is placed at the top of the Tennessee Season Opening.

Prior to his arrival at Rocky Top, Davis made it to the USGA Girls ’Junior Championship twice and was a three-time qualifier for the Girls Junior PGA Championship.

Vanessa Gilly

In last year’s freshman campaign, Gilly competed in 27 of Tennessee’s 30 team rounds. With an average of 75.00 and a low lap of 67, Gilly’s best goal came in The Ally Old Waverly, where he finished exactly seventh.

Gilly makes his second year in second in the Tennessee lineup.

Kayla Holden

In his second year, Holden is preparing for the first fall of his young college career. Despite not participating in the three Fall 2020 events in Tennessee, he found a lineup in each of Lady Vols ’seven spring tournaments.

Last season’s Gators Invitational served as Holden’s second collegiate tournament. His three-day score of +2 (212) was good for sixth place and led to him being selected as the SEC’s freshman of the week.

Nicole Whiston

Whiston begins her junior season after reaching Lady Vols ’third-lowest stroke average last year. He is fourth in the Tennessee lineup this week.

At the end of the 2020-21 season, Whiston achieved the top ten in the LSU Tiger Golf Classic and finished in sixth (E, 216). This week, he tied the best round of his career at 68 (-4) during the second round and was awarded the SEC Newcomer of the Week after the event.

Mikayla Bardwell

Bardwell has begun his senior season and has played 92 rounds and currently holds the fifth-best average in program history, 73.97 (at least two seasons and 45 rounds). She is only 0.57 behind the best career average in Erica Popson’s (2009-2013) program at 73.40.

Last season, Bardwell finished in the top ten, three of which ranked in the top three. Last spring at the NCAA Louisville Regional Qualifier, he charted the fourth-lowest third-round score in the program’s history of 66 (-6).

Bardwell made the bow of his junior campaign last year on his way to Scottsdale, Arizona, which competed in the NCAA as an individual. Despite the end of T97 at the event, Bardwell gained great confidence by going into his fourth season with Lady Vols.

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Hadley Walts (individual)
While Walts didn’t compete in the tournament with Lady Vols last season, Walts plans to end its senior season by competing as an individual this week in the Cougar Classic.

Walts ’score at 207 Westbrook Invitational in the spring of 2020 is up to date with the fourth-best score after 54 holes in program history.

FIELD

No. 9 Baylor, No. 15 Arkansas, No. 21 Maryland, No. 22 Georgia, No. 24 Vanderbilt, No. 25 Florida, No. 30 Miami, No. 31 State of Michigan, No. 33 Clemson,No. 35 Tennessee, No. 36 UCF, No. 56 Furman, No. 63 North Carolina, No. 68 Charleston, No. 75 Penn State, No. 94 Wisconsin, No. 101 NC.

(investments accordinglyGolf week)

OBSERVATIONS

The campaign for 2021-22 is 30^thA season in the history of the Tennessee women’s golf program. Lady Vols has claimed 29 tournament wins as a team and finished second in the SEC three times (1993, 1999, 2006).

Former Lady Vol golfer Diana Cantureturned to Rocky Top this summer and was appointed head coach of Tennessee on June 8, 2021. As the fourth head coach in Lady Vol’s history, Cantuis took over the helm of Knoxville alongside his first-year assistant coach Nothing Robinson.

Freshman Davis made headlines this summer and reached a significant runner-up at the 2021 U.S. Girls Junior Championships in July. Ranked No. 1 in Maryland and 7th in the 2021 Recruitment Class (Golfweek), Davis is poised to begin his collegiate career with orange and white this week.

COURSE INFORMATION

Yeamans Hall Club Par 72 6301 yards

The Yeamans Hall Club has a course rating of 72.2 and a slope rating of 128 on Bermuda grass. The course ranked 99th in Golf Digest’s “America’s 100 Largest Golf Courses” series from 2021-22.

LIVE RESULT

Golfstat offers live scoring and it can be foundhere.

MAKE TIME

Monday, Sept. 13 First and second rounds at 8:30 a.m. ET Shotgun begins with Baylor and Georgia
Bailey Davis 8.30 ET (hole 3B)
Vanessa Gilly 8.30 ET (hole 4)
Nicole Whiston 8.30 ET (hole 5A)
Kayla Holden 8.30 ET (hole 5B)
Mikayla Bardwell 8.30 ET (hole 6)
*Hadley Walts 8.30 ET (hole 18B)

Tuesday, Sept. 14, the third round of the TBD

NEXT

Lady Vols will return home after the Cougar Classic as they host the annual Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship from 20-21. September at Cherokee Country Club in Knoxville.