MAC Women's Golf Championships Live Stats
MAC Women's Golf Championships Info Center (hosted by Kent State)
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Western Michigan will compete in the 11th Mid-American Conference
Women's Golf Championships this weekend (April 24-26) at the
Longaberger Golf Club in Nashport, Ohio. The 72-hole event gets under
way with the first two rounds on Friday, beginning with tee times at 8
a.m. The Broncos will be in the first group of the morning with
Eastern Michigan and defending champion Kent State.
LEADING THE WAY ? Head coach Cindy Trout is leading the Western Michigan women's golf team into the Mid-American Conference Championships for the 11th year in 2009.
Under Trout's leadership the Broncos have finished in the top three on three occasions (2004, 2005, 2007) and had their best finish in program history in 2004 with a second-place finish.
AND THEN THERE WERE NINE ? For the first time since 2005 there will be nine teams competing in the MAC Women's Golf Championships. The University of Akron fielded a team in 2008-09 for the first time. The Zips will join the Broncos, Ball State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo and 10-time defending champion Kent State.
The field for the MAC Women's Golf Championships had previously been nine teams in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
HEADING TO OHIO ? For the second time in three years, the Mid-American Conference Women's Golf Championships will be held at Longaberger Golf Club in Nashport, Ohio. Being held for the 11th time, the nine teams will be tested on a championship layout that meanders over a setting of rolling hills with numerous elevation changes.
Celebrating its 10-year anniversary, Longaberger Golf Club was recently named the top public course in Ohio by both Golf Magazine and Golfweek. In a survey of America's public golf courses (May 2004), Golf Digest named Longaberger Golf Club one of 16 five-star courses and listed the club among the top 10 of all courses opened within the past five years as well as one of the top 10 in service. The course also was named America's Best New Upscale Public Course of 2000 by Golf Digest.
Longaberger Golf Club opened in 1999 to provide guests with a golf experience of the highest quality on a tournament-caliber public course. The course was designed by nationally-known architect Arthur Hills. The course features bent grass tees, greens and fairways with a bluegrass/ryegrass mix in the rough, five sets of tees for every skill level, a 25-acre practice facility with target greens, two practice greens and a short game area.
Longaberger Golf Club is located about 45 miles east of Columbus off State Route 16, north of the intersection with State Route 146 in eastern Licking County.
WHERE AND WHEN ? The 2009 MAC Women's Golf Championships get under way with a practice round on Thursday. Friday will open the competition with 36 holes of continuous play with tee times beginning at 8 a.m. The third round will also begin with tee times at 8 a.m., on Saturday as will the fourth and final round on Sunday.
Live stats will be available of the entire event will be available on www.golfstat.com and by going to the WMU golf schedule page and clicking the link that corresponds with the MAC Championships.
FRESHMEN NO MORE ? Maria Demarco, Leah Grawburg, Briana May and Katrina Templar have gained valuable experience during their first season in the Brown & Gold. The quartet brings a collective 65 rounds and 24 tournaments worth of collegiate experience with them to their first MAC Championships.
Grawburg and Templar lead the group with eight tournaments and 22 rounds of collegiate golf apiece. Grawburg has the lowest scoring average among the freshmen this season.
THERE IS SOMETHING VERY FAMILIAR HERE ? Elise Swartout will recognize the Longaberger Course and will remember it fondly as she won an event there this summer. Swartout, competing on the TaylorMade-Adidas Collegiate Series captured her first of three series event titles on July 3.
She shot 79-75 en route to medalist honors. That win was a jumping point for Swartout as she won the final two tournaments she entered this past summer and was eventually named Player of the Year with 327.50 points, which was 43.75 points better than Katie Rogner of Youngstown State who finished second in the standings.
WMU sophomore Stephanie Koske is the only other Bronco golfer to have played at the Longaberger Golf Club within the last year. She also competed on the TaylorMade-Adidas Collegiate Series and finished third at the July 3 event.
SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE ? Britney Hamilton and Elise Swartout have shared the lowest individual score in a tournament twice this season. They both finished sixth at the Nittany Lion Women's Invitational to open the season and each finished 26th at the Xavier Invitational in October.
Hamilton was the team medalist on two occasions, finishing in alone in seventh place at the Ross Resorts Invitational to close out the fall season and tied for 16th at the Ladies Midwest Shootout. Swartout has been the team medalist alone or with Hamilton in each of the other seven events this year.
The duo has finished 1-2 on the team in all but one of the nine tournaments on the schedule in 2008-09. The only tournament that Hamilton and Swartout did not finish in the top two on the team was at the Arkansas-Little Rock Invitational where Hamilton did not compete.
KEEP IT GOING ? Western Michigan will try to keep an interesting streak alive at this year's MAC Women's Golf Championships. The Broncos have taken home hardware for a MAC specialty award in each of the last two seasons. Elise Swartout was named MAC Freshman of the Year in 2007 and Laura Bavaird was named MAC Sportswoman of the Year in 2008. Western Michigan's first specialty award came in 2004 when Cindy Trout was named MAC Coach of the Year.
