Baylor women’s golf is headed to Austin, Texas to play in the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invite. The two-day, 36-hole tournament runs Monday and Tuesday on the par-72, 6,491-yard course at University of Texas Golf Club.
Baylor takes on a 15-team field that includes nine teams ranked in the top 50 of the Oct. 4 Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. BU is just outside the top 50 at No. 55, and the Lady Bears face No. 3 Arizona State, No. 10 Kent State, No. 11 Furman, No. 17 Texas Tech, No. 19 Texas, No. 20 Oklahoma, No. 25 Clemson, No. 30 UNLV, No. 42 Miami, Houston, LSU, San Diego State, SMU, Texas State.
BU is playing the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invite for the 13th time. The Lady Bears took fourth place last season, marking the fifth top-five finish in the tournament. Baylor’s best results were in 1999, 2007 and 2014, when the Lady Bears took third place.
The team is playing the event for the third time under seventh-year head coach Jay Goble, following a third-place finish in 2014 and a fourth-place finish in 2016.
Baylor’s lineup is led by Amy Lee, who is making her third appearance in the No. 1 spot during her two-year BU career. She’s followed by Maria Vesga, Diane Baillieux, Fiona Liddell and Giovana Maymon. Freshman Jordan Shackelford is making her Baylor debut playing as an individual.
Monday’s first and second rounds are both shotgun starts at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. CT. Baylor golfers will begin from the same holes for each round in pairings with players from San Diego State and Clemson. Lee tees off from No. 4, Vesga starts on No. 5, Baillieux and Liddell begin from No. 6 and Maymon tees off from No. 7. Shackelford starts from the 18th tee in a pairing with individuals from Texas and Arizona State.
Baylor has placed 12th and tied for eighth in its first two tournaments of the 2017-18 season. BU players have combined to post a 74.82 scoring average across 33 rounds, and the Lady Bears’ lineup has posted a 73.29 average counting score. Lee has played a team-high three of six rounds at par or better, and both Lee and Liddell have counted all six rounds toward the team score.
