Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Three-time defending champion Wichita State is favored to win the 2017 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Golf Championship, according to a pre-championship poll of league coaches. In addition to Wichita State, Bradley and Southern Illinois (both received first-place votes in the poll) figure to be among the leading contenders at this year’s championship, which will be played on the par-72, 6,214-yard layout at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, Mo. The MVC's 54-hole tournament champion will advance to the NCAA Regionals.
The Shockers will look to deliver on a consistent trend in recent Valley history in which the pre-championship favorite has won; notably 11 of the last 14 pre-championship favorites have won the title, including Wichita State last year. Wichita State, too, is looking to join Illinois State (2008-09-10-11) as the only league teams to claim four-consecutive MVC women's golf titles.
2016 REVIEW: Last year, Wichita State became just the third team in MVC women's golf history to win the team title for three-straight years as the Shockers outdistanced second-place Indiana State by 13 strokes on the par-72, 5,977-yard layout at Harborside International Golf Center (Port Course) in Chicago, Ill. Taryn Torgerson of Wichita State recorded a two-under 214 for the 54-hole event to edge Evansville's Kayla Katterhenry by a single stroke and third-place finisher Danielle Lemek of Bradley by two strokes. Indiana State finished second after being picked 7th in the pre-championship poll. The second-place finish tied ISU's best-ever finish in the conference women's golf championship.
The 297-289-298--884 team total by Wichita State set an all-time MVC women's golf championship record, surpassing the previous standard set by Southern Illinois in 2007 (899). Indiana State also beat the previous team scoring record for a 54-hole MVC championship as the Sycamores carded a three-round 306-287-304--897. Bradley's 902 ranks seventh-best all-time. Individually, Torgerson's three-round 214 was second all-time at the MVC Championship, trailing only a 212 score by Danielle Lemek of Bradley at the 2014 event. Katterhenry's 215 tied two others for third-best all-time in MVC history for lowest individual 54-hole score (Sofie Eriksson of Tulsa in 1995 and Meghan LeBlanc of Bradley in 2005).
2017 PREVIEW: Wichita State enters the tournament as the league's top-rated team in the GolfStat team head-to-head team ratings. Bradley is second in the ratings, while Southern Illinois and Missouri State follow close behind. MVC teams combined for seven team championships this year, including two each by Indiana State and Southern Illinois. Torgerson, meanwhile, sits atop the league's head-to-head standings, having just claimed her third career individual medalist honor earlier this week. Her stroke average of 74.41 is tops in the Conference. Katterhenry earned her league-record tying 10th medalist honor this week and sits in second behind Torgerson in individual stroke average (75.40). SIU has been led by senior Brooke Cusumano. She won two tournaments this year and sits fourth in league stroke average (75.72). Indiana State's Marissa Uradomo should also challenge the leaderboard as she ranks No. 3 in the league (75.56), while Bradley's Ally Scaccia is also an MVC Golfer of the Year candidate after averaging 76.03 throughout the season to rank in the Top 5.
Since opening in 2002, the remarkable Dalhousie Golf Club boasts one of the top 200 private golf courses in the United States and top three private golf courses in the state of Missouri. Nestled on a beautiful 1,000-acre tract of land in historic Cape Girardeau, Mo., Dalhousie is located on the banks of the Mississippi River, just two hours south of St. Louis.