| MSU/Payne Stewart Memorial |
| Dates |
Monday, Sept. 10 - Tuesday, Sept. 11 |
| Format |
36 holes Monday, 18 holes Tuesday |
| Times |
8:30 a.m. shotgun start both days |
| Location |
Springfield, Mo. |
| Course |
Twin Oaks Country Club |
| Teams (15) |
Little Rock, Arkansas State, Creighton, Drury, Memphis, Missouri State, Murray State, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Oral Roberts, Southern Illinois, UMKC, UTEP, Wichita State, William Woods |
| Scoring |
Golfstat.com |
OPENING TEE
Little Rock begins the 2018-19 season in Springfield, Missouri, competing in the MSU Payne Stewart Memorial on Monday, September 10 and Tuesday, September 11.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
The 2018 Payne Stewart Memorial, hosted by Missouri State, will be held Monday, September 10 and Tuesday, September 11 at Twin Oaks Country Club. The course will be a par-71, measuring 6,001 yards. The 54-hole event will feature 36 holes on Monday, September 10, beginning with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m., with the final 18 holes starting with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, September 11.
TOURNAMENT FIELD
Little Rock is one of 15 teams competing in this year's event and will be one of two Sun Belt Conference schools, joined by rival Arkansas State. Two teams rank among the top-100 in the final GolfStat rankings of 2017-18, including Memphis (No. 67) and Murray State (No. 89) with UTEP (No. 105), Wichita State (No. 132) and the Red Wolves (No. 149) among the top-150. Creighton, Drury, host Missouri State, Oklahoma City, Oral Roberts, Southern Illinois, UMKC and William Woods round out the field.
TROJAN LINEUP
After starting the same five players for the final nine tournaments of 2017-18, head coach
Bridgett Norwood will get to shake things up a big to start the new season, including giving three true freshmen their collegiate debut. Senior
Emelie Blennow and junior
Thea Wakeford-Wesmann are the two returners among the Little Rock lineup with freshmen
Tilde Bocker,
Kellie Gachaga and
Sydney Scraba rounding out the Trojan scorecard.
TROJANS AT THE PAYNE STEWART MEMORIAL
Little Rock returns to Springfield, Missouri, competing in the Payne Stewart Memorial for the seventh time since 2006. The Trojans have fared well in their previous trips, capturing the tournament's team title in 2006, 2010 and 2012 while finishing second in 2014. Little Rock's last trip came in 2016, finishing tied for 10th overall.
2017-18 RECAP
Little Rock heads into the season looking to build off the successes of 2017-18, one which saw the Trojans place among the top-10 in seven of 11 tournaments on the year and the last five of the spring schedule. As a team, Little Rock posted a 308.31 scoring average, the 11th-best in program history, led by
Sabrina Bonanno's 75.03 average en route to second team All-Sun Belt Conference honors.
INTERNATIONAL ROSTER
Little Rock's 2018-19 roster will truly be international as five different countries will be represented on this year's team, which doesn't feature a single golfer born in the United States. The Trojans represent Norway (
Malena Austerslaatt and
Thea Wakeford-Wesmann), Sweden (
Emelie Blennow and
Tilde Bocker), Kenya (
Kellie Gachaga), New Zealand (
Lucy Owen) and Canada (
Sydney Scraba).
LOOKING AHEAD
Little Rock will return to the course next weekend, traveling to Greenville, North Carolina for the East Carolina Pirate Collegiate Classic, being held September 17 and 18.
#LittleRocksTeam
Â
