UVA Opens Spring at Collegiate Invitational at Guadalajara Country Club
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 23 Virginia women’s golf team opens its spring schedule on Friday at the Collegiate Invitational at Guadalajara Country Club in Guadalajara, Mexico. UVA is the host for the 12-team tournament that features 54 holes of play over two days.
This year’s tournament will include 27 holes of play on both Friday and Saturday. The teams will re-pair after the first day based on results. Play starts both days at 8 a.m. CT. Scoring updates will be available on Golfstat.com.
The field includes (NCAA ranking) California (18), Colorado State (45), Florida State (31), Georgia (30), Louisville (47), Maryland (40), NC State (63), New Mexico (64), SMU (39), Tennessee (43) and UNLV (60).
This is the third year for the tournament. Originally titled the IJGA Collegiate Invitational, Virginia won the inaugural playing of the event that was held in February of 2020. It was one of the final collegiate golf events held that year before spring sports where shutdown due to the impact of the international pandemic.
Last season, Baylor won the event at 8-over 872. The Bears shot 2-under during the final round to pull away from runner-up Florida State and Georgia. The Seminoles were second at 18-over 882 while Georgia was third at 20-over 884. Baylor’s Rosie Belsham claimed the individual title at 6-under 210. She shot a tournament-best 6-under 66 during the final round.
The Cavaliers’ lineup features Jaclyn LaHa, Celeste Valinho, Rebecca Skoler, Amanda Sambach and Megan Propeck. Freshman Kiera Bartholomew will compete as an individual. Sambach leads the Cavaliers with a 70.17 stroke average. She is ranked No. 6 in the NCAA standings. Sambach has three top-10 finishes in four fall tournaments and was the medalist at the Glass City Invitational.
Virginia will be paired with California and Florida State during Friday’s opening round. Those teams will tee off starting at 8:45 a.m. CT from the first tee.
About Guadalajara Country Club
Designed by John Bredemus in 1942, the lush parkland layout at the prestigious Guadalajara Country Club makes up part of an extensive private estate near the city centre. It was the home course of former Arizona All-American and LPGA standout Lorena Ochoa, whose family’s home overlooked the club house. From 2008 to 2013 Guadalajara Country Club hosted the LPGA’s Lorena Ochoa Invitational.