This Week in WAC Women's Golf - Sep. 2
This Week in WAC Women's Golf - Sep. 2
Complete Release (PDF)
ON THE TEE
The 2021-22 women's golf season tees off this weekend with both Lamar and Sam Houston heading to the Gulf Coast for the USA Intercollegiate, hosted by South Alabama. A number of other schools will wait one more week as California Baptist and Tarleton will both compete at the Payne Stewart Memorial in Springfield, Mo., NM State will head north to Albuqurque for the Dick McGuire Invitational and Dixie State and UT Rio Grande Valley will head to Springville, Utah for the Hobble Creek Fall Classic, hosted by fellow WAC member Utah Valley.
UPPING THE COMPETITION
The WAC will be in a unique situation this season with two teams having earned automatic qualifications to NCAA Regionals in May. NM State will be the defending WAC champions, having won the 2021 Championship by seven strokes at Boulder Creek GC before earning a top-10 finish at the NCAA Albuquerque Regional. Sam Houston also earned an automatic selection after winning the Southland Conference Championship by 19 strokes over Central Arkansas. The Bearkats were unable to compete in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional after wet weather made the course unplayable. Senior Hanna Alberto still advanced to the NCAA Championship, becoming the first SHSU golfer to play at the final site.
IT'S BIGGER IN TEXAS (AND UTAH)
On Jan. 14, the WAC announced the addition of five new schools in the upcoming years. Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin and Southern Utah were all offered and accepted membership invitations. With the addition, the WAC now has six schools in Texas, more than any other conference in the country, and will have three schools in Utah, also a national best. The four Texas schools joined the league on July 1, 2021 and Southern Utah will follow 365 days later, officially joining the WAC on July 1, 2022.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP HEADS TO THE LONE STAR STATE
Originally the site for the canceled 2020 WAC Women's Golf Championship and for the first time since 2004, the WAC Championship heads to Texas as Riverhill Country Club in Kerrville will play host to the conference tournament on April 18-20, 2022. Designed by Byron Nelson and Joe Finger, Riverhill has been host to over 40 USGA and Texas Golf Association events.