COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Western Michigan women's golf team plays its last tournament of the regular season this week against some tough competition.

The Broncos tee off at the Therese Hession Buckeye Invitational hosted by Ohio State on Friday morning. WMU is one of 14 teams competing in the invitational that includes a very talented field. Of the 14 teams participating this weekend, over half the field is ranked in the Top 100 among Division I women's golf teams. The field is led by No. 25 Iowa State, followed by Northwestern (28), Kent State (30), Ohio State (36), Michigan State (40), and Indiana (43) in the top 50 of Scoreboard's rankings. 

The Brown and Gold will also see some more familiar teams in other Mid-American Conference squads Toledo, Ball State, and Ohio. Western Michigan has also played in tournaments earlier in the season with Xavier, who is also in the field this weekend. The Broncos face new teams in Rutgers, Youngstown State, and Harvard to complete the 14 team field in Columbus. 

The Therese Hession Buckeye Invitational will be played at the Ohio State University Golf Club. Only a five minute drive from campus, the two course club initially opened in 1940 designed by Alister MacKenzie. Twenty years ago, the club's Scarlet Course underwent a major restoration overseen by Buckeye alumni Jack Nicklaus. This weekend the teams will be playing the Scarlet Course, a par 72 of 6,319 yards for three rounds. The Scarlet Course has hosted the NCAA Women's Championship, the NCAA Men's Championship, U.S. Open qualifiers, and U.S. Amateur qualifiers since its construction.

WMU's lineup in its final regular season tournament consists of senior Megha Vallabhaneni, sophomore Lauren Lupinek, senior Jenna Hayes, freshman Danielle Daniy, and junior Macy Beeson. Freshman Lea Lemieux will also be competing in the Therese Hession Buckeye Invitational as one of five individual players in the field.

Earlier in April, Western Michigan placed 10th out of 19 teams at the Golfweek/Stifle Spring Challenge. After carding rounds of 301-295-310 during the Golfweek/Stifle Spring Challenge, the Broncos placed 10th with a score of 903 (+54) in their penultimate regular season tournament of the season. Vallabhaneni led WMU across all three days with rounds of 69-74-78 for a final score of 221 (+8) to be tied for 13th. Vallabhaneni was one of two Brown and Gold golfers who had a round under par during the Spring Challenge to keep Western Michigan in the top half of the standings. 

All six Broncos competing this weekend before the Mid-American Conference Championship on April 26 will tee off right at 8 a.m. EST. Fans can follow along with WMU players through live scoring.