CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.---The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's golf program heads to Knoxville, Tenn., this weekend for the Mercedes-Benz Women's Championship at Fox Den Country Club in suburban Farragut, Tenn. The Lady Mocs tee it up for the first round Friday morning and the 54-hole event is played over three days with 18 holes per day.
It is the final fall event on the schedule for the Lady Mocs, who are No. 17 in the latest Golfstat rankings. That makes them the fourth highest-ranked team in the field which includes nine top 25 squads.
Chattanooga is coming off a third-place finish at the rain-shortened Bettie Lou Evans Fall Invitational at the University of Kentucky. It was a disappointing finish for the Lady Mocs as was playing just 36 of the scheduled 54 holes.
Maria Salinas and Emma de Groot lead the way for Chattanooga with each sporting a 74.0 scoring average. de Groot, a junior, is ranked No. 94 nationally in the Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings Index, while Salinas comes in at No. 95. Salinas has just one score higher than a bogey in 126 holes this season, while de Groot is coming off a tie for fifth at Kentucky.
The lineup also includes sophomore Maria Juliana Loza, junior Christine Wolf and senior Kayla Stewart. Wolf is the team leader with 16 birdies in the first three events. The travel squad has been the same throughout the fall.
The Lady Mocs are grouped with No. 22 Louisville and Southern Conference rival Furman. The teams tee off the first hole at 9 a.m. (ET).
WHO: Maju (pronounced mah-who) Loza. Leads the team with 87 pars on the year. She is third on the team scoring par or better 75.4 percent of the time. In her last 101 holes, she has carded just one score higher than a bogey.
WHAT: Mercedes-Benz Women's Championship - 54 holes (18 per day)
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 16 through Sunday, Oct. 18
WHERE: Fox Den Country Club; Knoxville, Tenn. Par 72, 6,058 yards. LSU is the defending champion tying the tournament record a year ago at 865 (+1). Live scoring at GoMocs.com.
HOW: The Lady Mocs are the fourth-highest ranked team entering this week's event which is significant since nine top 25 programs are entered. The Lady Mocs at No. 17 follow No. 7 LSU, No. 9 Ohio State and No. 12 Florida and are ranked ahead of host Tennessee at 18, No. 19 Wake Forest, No. 20 Tulane, No. 22 Louisville and No. 24 South Carolina. All-in-all. 13 of the 18 teams are ranked in the Golfstat top 50.
LINEUP (Scoring Avg.): Maria Salinas (74.0), Emma de Groot (74.0), Maria Juliana Loza (75.6), Christine Wolf (75.9), Kayla Stewart (77.9).
FIELD: Arkansas, Chattanooga, Florida, Furman, Kent State, Kentucky, LSU, Louisville, N.C. State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, TCU, Texas-San Antonio, Tulane, Wake Forest
FIELD WITH RANKINGS(Golfstat/Golfweek): LSU (7/8), Ohio State (9/14), Florida (12/10), Chattanooga (17/32), Tennessee (18/22), Wake Forest (19/23), Tulane (20/19), Louisville (22/24), South Carolina (24/28), Furman (32/37), TCU (36/39), Kent State (43/40), Notre Dame (50/54), Arkansas (53/45), N.C. State (60/64), Ole Miss (72/75), Texas-San Antonio (78/73), Kentucky (82/81).
