Falcons Head to Mountain Country for Great Smokies Intercollegiate

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- The Bowling Green State University women's golf team will visit the scenic Appalachian Mountains for the third consecutive year on Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 19-20) when they travel to Waynesville, N.C. to play in the 2011 Great Smokies Intercollegiate.

The tournament, in its 13th year, features a 23-team field that will play 36 holes at the Waynesville Inn Golf Resort. The first nine holes (par-36, 2,979 yards) are on the resort's Carolina course, while the Blue Ridge course (par-36, 2,953 yards) hosts the final nine holes. In all, athletes will compete on a par-72 course that totals nearly 6,000 yards.

Teams will play one round on each day. Play begins on both days with a 9:00 a.m. shotgun start. For Monday's opening round, the Falcons will start on the last three holes of the Blue Ridge course (holes 16-18 overall). Falcon athletes will be paired with golfers from Tennessee Tech, Radford and Alabama-Birmingham.

Tournament host Western Carolina has won seven of the previous ten editions of this tournament. In Bowling Green's two previous trips, the Falcons finished 15th (of 23) and 16th (of 24). In 2010, BGSU golfers set the school-record for 18 and 36 holes when the team shot 294 to open the tournament and followed it with a second-round 315 for a 36-hole total of 609.

Leading the charge to that team-record 294 was then-freshman Bailey Arnold, whose opening-round 70 was one stroke shy of Bowling Green's record for an individual 18-hole score. Paula DiFrancesco and Amy Ruthenberg each has experience in Waynesville. DiFrancesco had her best tournament of the 2010-11 season there, shooting 153 (75-78), while Ruthenberg carded a 158 on rounds of 77 and 81.

This week's lineup will be the same as the team's opening-tournament lineup. Arnold will be in the first slot, with Ruthenberg and DiFrancesco in the third and fourth slots, respectively. Freshmen Shelby Wilson and Patricia Holt will compete again. Wilson placed 11th last weekend in her debut with the Falcons.

Scores and a complete recap will be available on BGSUFalcons.com after the conclusion of play on each day of the tournament.

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