Oct. 10, 2014
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's golf team resumes its fall slate early next week when it competes in the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational, Oct. 12-14, in Austin, Texas. The three-day, 54-hole event gets underway Sunday with first-round action on the par-72, 6,225-yard University of Texas Golf Club, while the final two rounds will be contested on Monday and Tuesday.
Tee times range from 8:15-9:30 a.m. CT (6:15-7:30 a.m. PT) each day on holes 1 and 10, and a live scoring link will be available courtesy of Golfstat.com. Monday's second round has been designated as a "Pink Out," with each of the 15 teams encouraged to don pink attire in an effort to raise awareness for breast cancer research.
Along with the 17th-ranked Aztecs, the field features six additional squads ranked in the Golfweek Top 50, including No. 16 UNLV, No. 18 Oklahoma State, No. 36 Iowa State, No. 43 SMU, No. 44 Texas, and No. 48 Minnesota. SDSU will also battle another Mountain West foe in New Mexico, while Baylor, Indiana, Miami (Fla.), Texas-San Antonio, Tulane, Tulsa, UC Irvine and UNC Wilmington round out the list of participating schools.
Leading the Aztec charge to the Lone Star State is sophomore Sirene Blair (South Jordan, Utah), who enters the week with a No. 11 individual ranking by Golfweek, while junior Emma Henrikson (Malmö, Sweden) checks in at No. 43.
Blair captured Mountain West Co-Golfer of the Month honors in September after posting a pair of top-three finishes at Colorado State's Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic and the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational in New Mexico. After two tournaments, she leads the MW with a 71.00 stroke average. Meanwhile, Henrikson (72.33) looks to continue her early season success after posting her first individual collegiate victory last month at the Ram Fall Classic, where she helped SDSU to the team title.
Fourth-year Aztec head coach Leslie Spalding's lineup will also feature senior Paige Spiranac (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and freshmen Mila Chaves (Asuncion, Paraguay) and Haleigh Krause (Eugene, Ore.). Chaves will be making her third straight varsity appearance, while Krause received a starting assignment for the first time in a Scarlet and Black uniform after competing as an individual at the Branch/McGuire Invite.
Blair was the Aztecs' top finisher at the Longhorn Invitational last season, tying for the seventh position at 5-under 211, while Henrikson landed in the 26th spot with a 2-over 218. Spiranac also saw action at last year's event, but withdrew prior to the final round due to illness. As a team, SDSU placed ninth out of 18 schools with a combined score of 14-over 878.
UNLV's Dana Finkelstein is the top returning individual after tying for second in 2013 with a combined 8-under 208, while Cajsa Persson of Iowa State, who tied for fifth at 6-under 210, is also back in the mix. Last year's team champion UCLA and runner-up Arizona State will not be participating, leaving Miami (3rd), Iowa State (4th) and SMU (5th) as the top returning squads.
This season marks the 41st installment of the Betsy Rawls Invitational, which will be conducted as a fall tournament for only the fourth time in its history. In 1977, the Texas Invitational was renamed to honor Betsy Rawls, a Texas graduate and one of the most prolific golfers of her day. Rawls, a breast cancer survivor, won more than 50 tour championships between 1951 and 1975, including four U.S. Opens, and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1977.
Past tournament winners include such notables as Nancy Lopez (1976), Beth Daniel (1977), Val Skinner (1982), Jody Rosenthal (1984-85), Michiko Hattori (1988) and Annika Sorenstam (1992).
Following their Texas road trip, the Aztecs will return to the fairways for the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown, scheduled for Oct. 26-28, at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nev.