UVA Looks to Keep Up Hot Start at Augusta Invitational
Charlottesville, VA – The No. 7 Virginia women’s golf team looks to keep up its excellent start to the 2021 season when it competes at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational this weekend in Augusta, Ga. The two-day, 54-hole event will be held at Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta, Ga.
Saturday’s opening round features a shotgun start at 8 a.m. from the first and 10th holes. Sunday’s final round gets underway at 9 a.m., also with a shotgun start.
The field includes seven teams ranked in the current Golfstat top-25 standings: Augusta, Coastal Carolina, No. 2 Duke, No. 5 Florida State, Furman, Kennesaw State, No. 17 Kent State, No. 24 Louisville, Memphis, Notre Dame, Purdue, No. 3 South Carolina, South Florida, Virginia Tech and No. 1 Wake Forest.
The UVA lineup will feature senior Beth Lillie (Fullerton, Calif.), junior Riley Smyth (Cary, N.C.), sophomores Virginia Bossi (Como, Italy) and Celeste Valinho (Jacksonville, Fla.) and freshman Jennifer Cleary (Wilmington, Del.). They have been the Cavaliers’ lineup for all four tournaments this season.
Lillie currently leads UVA with a 72.10 stroke average. She had posted three top-10 finishes this season including medalist honors at the team’s recent Match at Spring Creek. She is ranked No. 27 nationally in the latest Golfstat standings while teammate Smyth is No. 46.
Established in 1926, Forest Hills Golf Club was originally designed by Donald Ross. It was renovated by the Arnold Palmer Company in 2004. Its rich history includes being the site where Bobby Jones began his 1930 Grand Slam of Golf at the Southeastern Open.
Live scoring is online at Golfstat.com.