NORFOLK, Va. -- The Old Dominion Lady Monarch golf team is poised to commence the 2016 spring season at the Edwin Watts/Kiawah Island Spring Classic in Kiawah Island, South Carolina this weekend. The event will run from Sunday, February 28 through Tuesday, March 1.
Hosted by the College of Charleston, the 42-team Edwin Watts/Kiawah Island Spring Classic is the largest tournament of its kind in the country. The event will take place at both the Osprey Point and Oak Point Courses at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort.
The Lady Monarchs enter the spring season ranked No. 59 in the nation by Golfweek and No. 61 by Golfstat. Individually, Charlotte De Corte enters the spring ranked No. 166 by Golfweek while Maggie Simmermacher is slated at No. 211.
FALL RECAP
Led by head coach Andy Crabtree, the Lady Monarchs turned in an impressive fall season in 2015, placing second at the Golfweek Program Challenge, the Lady Pirate Invitational and the Fighting Camel Classic. Three ODU golfers also competed in the Pinehurst Challenge, where junior Rachel Walker earned a third place finish and was awarded C-USA Women’s Golfer of the Week.
Newcomer Charlotte De Corte has excelled for Old Dominion so far in her rookie campaign, as the freshman from Belgium placed in the top 10 in all three tournaments in which she competed. Her highest finishes included a sixth place performance at Golfweek and a seventh place result at the Fighting Camel Classic.
The 2015 C-USA Freshman of the Year, Maggie Simmermacher also registered two top-10 finishes for Old Dominion this fall, placing fourth at the Lady Pirate Invite and ninth at Golfweek.
Freshman Sana Tufail and sophomore Katerina Vlasinova will also look to make an impact for the Lady Monarchs this spring, as Tufail grabbed 10th at the Fighting Camel Classic and Vlasinova placed within the top 20 at all four fall tournaments.
Veteran Rachel Walker, the lone Lady Monarch to receive a C-USA Women’s Golfer of the Week honor this fall, recorded two top-10 finishes at Pinehurst and at the Lady Pirate Invite.
SPRING SCHEDULE
March 7-8: UNF Intercollegiate (Jacksonville, Fla.)
March 28-29: Henssler Financial Intercollegiate (Atlanta, Ga.)
April 9-10: River Landing Classic (Wallace, N.C.)
April 18-20: Conference USA Championships (Naples, Fla.)
May 5-7: NCAA Regionals (TBA)
May 20-25: NCAA National Championships (Eugene, Ore.)
INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS
Charlotte De Corte and Maggie Simmermacher represented Belgium and Argentina, respectively, at the highly renowned Spirit International Amateur Golf Tournament in October at Camp Olympia in Trinity, Texas. De Corte helped Belgium to a ninth place finish and helped her home country lead the entire field after the first round, while Simmermacher and Argentina placed 14th on the strength of a strong final round that saw the Argentinians surpass Colombia, Denmark and Norway.
Simmermacher also registered a runner-up finish out of 53 golfers at the prestigious Individual South American Amateur Golf Championships in Lima, Peru in late January. The Lady Monarch fired a 73-70-70-69=282 (-6) to place second for Argentina.
NCAA FRESHMAN IMPACT RANKINGS
For the second consecutive year, the ODU women’s golf team landed a spot on the Golfstat NCAA Top 25 Freshman Class Impact Rankings, as the Lady Monarch duo of Charlotte De Corte and Sana Tufail combined for a No. 24 ranking. The duo of Maggie Simmermacher and Kate Vlasinova was ranked No. 19 by Golfstat in the fall of 2014.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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