LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. -- The Western Michigan women's golf team will look to build on its best team round of the season at the Bell Bank "Pay it Forward" Collegiate.
The Broncos are back in the Grand Canyon state after a month away for the Bell Bank "Pay it Forward" Collegiate touranment hosted by Minnesota. WMU will be the only Mid-American Conference team in the tournament field but will see a familiar team in the Creighton Bluejays who have participated with the Brown in Gold in their past two tournaments. Also in the field with Western Michigan are St. Thomas, Omaha, Florida Gulf Coast, Middle Tennessee State, Montana State, South Florida, Utah Tech, North Dakota State, Grand Canyon, North Dakota, and UC Irvine.
The Bell Bank "Pay it Forward" Collegiate is being played at the Wigwam Golf Club on the Blue Course in Litchfield Park, Ariz., 30 minutes west of Phoenix. The Wigwam Blue Course plays as a par 71 and is 6,373 yards in total. The course was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and opened for play in 1965. The course is known for Trent Jones' signature small, elevated greens, similar to its sister course the Gold at the Wigwam Golf Club.
The Broncos will have six golfers competing at the Bell Bank "Pay it Forward Collegiate". WMU's five players counting towards the overall team score through the three rounds will be senior
Megha Vallabhaneni, sophomore
Lauren Lupinek, senior
Jenna Hayes, junior
Macy Beeson, and freshman
Danielle Daniy. The Brown and Gold will also have one individual golfer in Arizona as junior
Bella Brooks will play three rounds as well.
Two weeks ago Western Michigan finished eighth as a team after a near perfect third round at the Morehead State SoCal Spring Invitational. WMU improved by three places as a team in the final round of the SoCal Spring Invitational on Tuesday, March 10. After back-to-back rounds at +20, the Brown and Gold had their best overall round as a team in the third and final round on Tuesday. Western Michigan ended their last round and only four above par, led by Lupienk, who carded a 70 to go one under par.
The other three scoring rounds of the day for the Broncos didn't rise more than two above par as Daniy carded a 72, and seniors Vallabhaneni, and Hayes each carded a 73. Across all three days WMU scored 304-306-288 to end the tournament at 898 (+46) for eighth overall. Nebraska was the tournament team winner with rounds of 295-283-284 for 862 (+10) while Alexsandra Lapple of Notre Dame was the individual winner at three under par with a total score of 210 strokes.
The Brown and Gold will tee off on Monday morning from Litchfield Park at 10:30 a.m. EST for two rounds and then will tee off at 10:00 a.m. EST on Tuesday for the final round. Those who would like to follow along with Western Michigan at the Bell Bank "Pay it Forward" Collegiate can do so through live scoring at
scoreboard.clippd.com.
