The Alabama women’s golf team will be in Tempe, Ariz., this weekend playing in the Ping/ASU Invitational. This will be the sixth-ranked Tide’s final rounds of golf before hosting the Southeastern Conference Championships on April 16-18 at North River Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa, which will be the first time the Tide has hosted the SEC Championships since 1998.
The Tide will be facing some of the toughest competition it has seen all year this weekend, with the Ping/ASU Invitational featuring seven of the top 10 ranked teams in the nation and 12 of the top 26.
The No. 1 Arizona State Sun Devils will be hosting the invitational. Joining them will be second-ranked UCLA, No. 4 Southern California, the No. 6 Crimson Tide, No. 7 Pepperdine, No. 8 Arizona and No. 9 Purdue. Other teams at the tournament include No. 15 Stanford, No. 17 California, No. 18 Denver, No. 24 New Mexico, No. 26 Oklahoma State, San Jose State, Texas Tulsa, Washington and Washington State. Coach Mic Potter said the Tide will be ready.
“I think we will handle the tournament and competition well,” Potter said. “A couple of years ago that wasn’t the case, but now we have players that have played on a championship level, and we will be prepared.”
The Tide will be coming in with confidence. This spring, they have finished in the top three in each tournament they have participated in. The Tide won the Lady Puerto Rico Classic, turned in a runner-up showing at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, and finished third at the Tiger/Wave Classic.
Camilla Lennarth, Jennifer Kirby and Brooke Pancake will be key players in the Tide’s success. All three women are ranked in the top 40 individuals in the country. Lennarth comes in as the number 13th ranked individual. Kirby is 18th and Pancake is 38th.
“Camilla is in the top 12 or 13 in country, so we expect a lot from her,” Potter said. “After watching her practice round, I think that the course suites her well. She just has to go out and play it one shot at a time.”
For most of the season, Lennarth and Kirby have been the Tide’s best two players. Lennarth leads the Tide with a scoring average of 72.89, and Kirby is second with an average of 73.21. At this pace, both women will break the Tide’s single season scoring average of 73.30 set by Kathleen Ekey during the 2007-08 season.
The rest of the Tide’s line-up features seniors Rhea Nair and Helena Bloomberg. Nair will be returning to the lineup after missing the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic. Bloomberg has come back strong this spring, starting all three tournaments, after missing most of the fall due to foot surgery.
Potter said this is the time for the Tide to show they can compete with the best.
“There are a lot of top teams here,” he said. “We have to be competitive, play our best, and show everyone that we are ready to compete for championships.”
