CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s golf opens its season Monday at Michigan’s Wolverine Invitational. The two-day event features 36 holes of competition on Monday and a single-round on Tuesday. The event takes place at the University of Michigan Golf Course. It is the first event hosted by the Wolverines at the facility since 2012. Michigan will be the site of one of the NCAA four regional competitions next spring.
The Wolverine Invitational field includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa State, Kent State, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Toledo, Washington, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Xavier.
The UVA lineup is loaded with veterans and one talented newcomer. Graduate student Beth Lillie (Fullerton, Calif.), senior Riley Smyth (Cary, N.C.), junior Celeste Valinho (Jacksonville, Fla.) and sophomore Jennifer Cleary (Wilmington, Del.) each started every tournament last season for the Cavaliers. They will be joined by freshman Amanda Sambach. Sambach competed at the 2021 Augusta National Women’s Amateur and won the 2021 Rolex Girls Junior Championship. Playing as an individual for UVA will be sophomore Rebecca Skoler (Needham, Mass.), who did not compete last season.
Lillie led the Cavaliers last spring, earning All-America honors after finishing ninth at the NCAA Championships. She enters the season as a three-time All-ACC performer.
The Cavaliers are paired with Michigan and Northwestern for the first two rounds. Those teams tee off starting at 8:45 a.m. from the ninth through 12th holes using a shotgun start.
Live scoring of the tournament is online at Golfstat.com.