COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou women's golf head coach Stephanie Priesmeyer announced the fall 2015 schedule on Thursday. The Tigers will compete in five total tournaments across the country during the fall season and will take on some of the top programs nationally.
"This is by far one of our strongest schedules that we have put together in quite a few years," Priesmeyer said. "We have a great balance of events and our players will have opportunities week-in and week-out to compete with some of the best teams and individual golfers in the country."
The fall season begins on Sept. 7-8 at the Marilyn Smith Sunflower Invitational in Manhattan, Kansas, hosted by Kansas State.
"We will begin our fall campaign with a really nice challenge," Priesmeyer noted. "Kansas State has compiled a strong field to start the season at Colbert Hills Golf Course with the likes of Big Ten champions Ohio State, and Purdue, which is a top 25 program. There are 16 teams competing with nine of those teams in the top 60 in the country."
Mizzou will then head to the Lady Paladin Invitational from Sept. 20-22 in Greenville, South Carolina, hosted by Furman.
"The Lady Paladin Invitational will be our first trip to Greenville," Priesmeyer stated. "We are looking forward to playing in South Carolina and competing against Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Furman, Kennesaw State, North Carolina and Wake Forest, all teams that qualified for NCAA Regional play this past season."
The Tigers will again host the Johnie Imes Invitational on Sept. 28-29 at The Club at Old Hawthorne in Columbia.
"The Johnie Imes is such a special event for our team and our members at The Club at Old Hawthorne," Priesmeyer said. "Last year, we won the event for the first time since 2007 and set a new tournament record by shooting 18-under par. We will have 18 teams coming to town and are excited about the opportunity to defend the title on our home course again. Johnie Imes passed away in 2012, and she was such an integral part in helping establish a foundation for fundraising the women's golf program at Mizzou. We named the event after her in 2007 and she was able to enjoy five events with us before she passed away. Her daughter, Pam Adkison, attends The Johnie every year in honor of her mother."
Following the home tournament, the Tigers will again compete in the Jim West Challenge in Boerne, Texas, hosted by Texas State. Some of the top programs in the country will also participate in the tournament, including Florida State, Kent State, Miami, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Texas Tech, who all finished in the top 40 nationally last year.
"By far, our strongest event of the fall season will be the Jim West Challenge," Priesmeyer remarked. "This is perfect timing in the fall for an event this strong, and it will provide our team with a much-needed challenge and also be a great opportunity to see where we stand among the best teams in the country."
The fall slate concludes with the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown hosted by UNLV from Oct. 25-27.
"The Las Vegas Showdown is a great event to finish the fall season," Priesmeyer noted. "Teams can go low on this golf course if the conditions are right, and if there are high winds and cooler temperatures out there, this course can be quite a challenge. We have always enjoyed going to Las Vegas and have had quite a bit of success out there, so we are looking forward to finishing the fall season strong at the end of October."
In 2014-15, Mizzou posted a 301.6 team stroke average and posted five top 10 finishes. The Tigers return five members from last year's squad and welcome three incoming freshmen. Mizzou also posted its highest team grade point average in 10 years as six student-athletes earned a spot on the SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll and two others were selected for the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll.
"We have a hungry group of student-athletes returning to Columbia in August and we are really encouraged by the summer play of our incoming freshmen," Priesmeyer said. "We look forward to seeing their impact on our team. We had two injuries last year and now all players are good to go for this upcoming season. We are anxious to have our players return to campus and begin this journey for the upcoming year. We believe this team has a lot of great golf ahead of them and they will only get better as the season gets rolling. They love to work hard, are great people, are grateful for their opportunity here at Mizzou and they have fun."