BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Virginia Tech women's golf team will face another demanding schedule as it embarks on its fifth season of competition. Five new events on challenging courses against top-level fields, the 2019-20 schedule features nine regular season tournaments, plus the ACC Championship.
"It's exciting to announce another well-rounded and demanding schedule for the Hokies," Head Coach Carol Robertson said. "We will see the country's top teams throughout each event, giving us a chance to prepare over and again for the ACC Championship and beyond."
Two years ago, the Hokies earned the program's first-ever NCAA regional bid in just their third season of competition and Tech made it two-in-a-row in 2019, with a trip to the NCAA Norman Regional. Graduate student Amanda Hollandsworth advanced to the NCAA Championship and finished fifth nationally.
Beginning in the fall, the Hokies open at the Minnesota Invitational for the third consecutive season. The tournament will be played at the Preswick Golf Club in Woodbury, Minnesota, hosted by the University of Minnesota Sept. 9-10. The Hokies finished second in last season's tournament and rising junior Emily Mahar finished tied for second individually.
The first of three consecutive new tournaments is next, as the Hokies will compete in the Princess Anne Invitational at the Princess Anne Country Club in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Following that will be a trip to the Landfall Tradition at the Landfall Country Club in Wilmington, North Carolina, hosted by UNCW. The final of the three events will close out the fall slate with a trip to the Battle at the Beach in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. The trip to Mexico is the first of two consecutive trips out of the lower 48.
The spring schedule begins on Feb. 9-11, as Tech will return to play in the Lady Puerto Rico Classic, hosted by Purdue. The three-day event will be played on the River Course of the Rio Mar Country Club. The Hokies will play the top-level tournament for the second consecutive year, having finished third last season, with Mahar also posting a third place finish.
Next up will be a trip to the famed The Woodlands Country Club in The Woodlands, Texas for the Icon Invitational, hosted by the University of Houston Feb. 24-25. The final "new" tournament for the Hokies is "new this year", but back on the schedule after a one-year absence. Tech will compete in the Gators Invitational at the Mark Bostic Golf Course on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. The tournament, played March 7-8, annually attracts one of the top fields in collegiate golf.
Tech returns to the Clemson Invitational, March 27-29. The three-day tournament will be played at the Jack Nicklaus-designed The Reserve at Lake Keowee in Sunset, South Carolina. Tech tied for eighth last season in the event that saw almost the entire field advance to the NCAA Regionals.
The Hokies will conclude the regular season in the Bryan National Collegiate April 5-7. The tournament will be played at the Bryan National Champion's Course in Brown's Summit, North Carolina. Tech was sixth in last year's tournament, with Hollandsworth tying for eighth place individually.
The Hokies made major strides as a program at last season's ACC Women's Golf Championship, finishing a program-best sixth in the team competition. This year's event moves to The Reserve in Pawley's Island, South Carolina, site of the 2017 championship.
Tech will look to earn its third consecutive NCAA bid this spring. This year's regional sites are hosted by Georgia, NC State, Notre Dame and Washington State. The NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championship will be played at The Grayhawk Golf Club's Raptor Course in Scottsdale, Arizona May 22-27.
Tech returns three starters from the team that competed in the NCAA Norman Regional, including Mahar, the program's all-time leader in scoring average. The Hokies add freshmen Alyssa Montgomery of Knoxville, Tennessee and Becca DiNunzio of Norfolk, Virginia to this season's roster.
