Cavaliers Look for First ACC Crown at Sedgefield

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April 16, 2015

FORMAT CHANGE: On Friday afternoon ACC officials announced the format of the tournament would change due to the threat of inclement weather Sunday. The 54-hole event will be contested Friday and Sunday with 27 holes of competition each day. Tee times have moved up 30 minutes. UVa will tee off at 10 a.m. Friday and 10:40 a.m. Saturday.

Charlottesville, Va. – The 11th-ranked Virginia women’s golf team will compete at the ACC Championships this weekend at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C. from April 17-19.

The Tournament is making its seventh-straight appearance at Sedgefield (par 72, 6,089 yards), which also hosts Greensboro’s PGA Tournament’s Wyndham Open, and was the actual site of the formation of the ACC in 1953. There is no charge for admission.

The Cavaliers’ lineup for this year’s event features senior Briana Mao (Folsom, Calif.), freshman Lyberty Anderson (Chesterfield, Va.), junior Elizabeth Szokol (Winnetka, Ill.), sophomore Lauren Diaz-Yi (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and junior Lauren Coughlin (Chesapeake, Va.). Diaz-Yi leads Virginia with a 72.54 stroke average that ranks third in the ACC. She is the only ACC golfer to register two first-place finishes this season. Mao, who led the Cavaliers at the 2014 championship with a third-place showing, is coming off her first win of the season, taking medalist honors at the Bryan National Collegiate.

Third-ranked Duke is seeking its fourth-straight ACC title and 20th overall. A year ago, Duke led from start to finish and claimed the ACC title by 27 strokes over second-place Virginia, finishing with a 10-over 862. The Blue Devils have won 16 of the last 19 ACC titles, and 19 overall.

The 2015 ACC Championships marks Virginia’s 12th appearance at the event. UVa has placed in the top-five in its last 10 showings at the ACC Championships. The Cavaliers were the runners up in 2014, 2010, 2008 and 2006. Brittany Altomare became the first UVa player to win the event in 2013. She was the runner-up in 2010. Also finishing second for UVa has been Calle Nielson (2010) and Leah Wigger (2006).

Boston College and Clemson begin the championship on Friday teeing off at 8:00 a.m. North Carolina, NC State and Louisville are next at 8:50 a.m., followed by Notre Dame, Florida State and Miami at 9:40 a.m. Defending conference champion Duke, Virginia and Wake Forest have the morning’s final tee time at 10:30 a.m.

The teams are scheduled to start Saturday’s second round at 8 a.m. and Sunday’s final round will begin at 8:30 a.m. from the No. 1 and No. 10 tees.

The event will be shown on ESPN3 on Saturday from 2-4 p.m. and Sunday from 1-3:30 p.m.

Live scoring is online at Golfstat.com