Cavaliers Set to Defend ACC Title at Sedgefield

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April 14, 2016

Charlottesville, Va. – The 18th-ranked Virginia women’s golf team will compete at the ACC Championships this weekend at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C. from April 15-17. The Cavaliers are the defending champions after winning the 2015 title at 27-under 837, the lowest score in the tournament’s history.

The tournament is making its eighth-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 seniors Lauren Coughlin (Chesapeake, Va.) and Elizabeth Szokol (Winnetka, Ill.), junior Lauren Diaz-Yi (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and freshmen Morgan Gonzales (Chandler, Ariz.) and Anna Redding (Concord, N.C.)

Coughlin leads Virginia with a 72.71 stroke average that is tied for third in the ACC. She is ranked No. 29 by Golfweek and No. 32 by Golfstat. She has a pair of runner-up finishes this season at the Mason Rudolph Championship and the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. Last year Coughlin tied for fourth at the ACC Championships.

The 2016 ACC Championships marks Virginia’s 13th appearance at the event. UVa has placed in the top-five in its last 11 showings at the ACC Championships. In addition to winning the title last year for the first time, 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. Briana Mao tied for first last year but lost a playoff for the individual trophy.

Boston College, Virginia Tech and Clemson begin the championship on Friday teeing off at 8:00 a.m. North Carolina, Wake Forest and Miami are next at 8:50 a.m., followed by Notre Dame, Louisville and NC State at 9:40 a.m. UVA, Duke and Florida State 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 p.m. until the finish and Sunday from 1 p.m. until the finish.

Live scoring is online at Golfstat.com.

Commonwealth Clash
This year’s ACC Championships marks the first time a point is at stake for the women’s golf programs from Virginia and Virginia Tech. The Hokies are in their first year fielding a women’s golf team and this will be their inaugural ACC Championship in the sport.

The Commonwealth Clash presented by Virginia529 is a head-to-head, points-based competition between the athletic teams at University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. The Commonwealth Clash encourages a friendly, statewide rivalry between the two schools across all school-sponsored sports with 21 individual event points on the line. The school that accumulates 11 points or more will be crowned the winner and take home the Virginia529 Commonwealth Clash trophy. Visit www.TheCommonwealthClash.com for more information and updated standings.

UVA leads the current standings 9-5 and won the Clash last year 15 to 7.