CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The fourth-ranked Virginia women’s golf team will compete in the inaugural Jackson T. Stephens Cup starting Monday at the Alotian Club in Roland, Ark. The tournament format features 36 holes of stroke play Monday, a single round on Tuesday and then match play on Wednesday. The event will recognize its 54-hole winners upon completion of stroke play.
The field includes six men’s teams and six women’s teams. In addition to the schools competing for the team titles, 12 individuals (six men and six women) collegiate players representing PGA Works, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and the United States Service Academies will also compete in the stroke play portion of the tournament.
Golf Channel will have live coverage of the tournament each day from 4-7 p.m. (ET). College Central on Golf Channel will air prior to each broadcast beginning at 3:30 p.m. (ET).
The women’s field features (Golfstat ranking): Arkansas (3), Baylor (10), LSU (35), Ole Miss (30) and South Carolina (8).
Competing for Virginia will be first-year Amanda Sambach, senior Riley Smyth, junior Virginia Bossi, junior Celeste Valinho and graduate student Beth Lillie. Valinho has the team’s best stroke average at 73.17.
The event is named in memory of the late Augusta National Chairman, Jackson T. Stephens. The 2022 tournament will be held at Seminole Golf Club, in Juno Beach, Fla., followed by the Trinity Forest Golf Club, in Dallas, Texas in 2023.
Spanning more than 1,500 acres overlooking Lake Maumelle in Roland, Ark., the Alotian Club, a 2004 Tom Fazio design, is ranked No. 31 on the Golf Digest “America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses” list and 14th on Golfweek’s Best list of the top 200 modern courses in the United States. The Alotian Club has a history of supporting amateur golf, hosting the Western Amateur in 2013 and the Arnold Palmer Cup in 2019.
Live scoring is available for the duration of the tournament via Golfstat.