ATLANTA - The Georgia State women's golf team will play for its fourth consecutive title as it hosts the 18th annual John Kirk/Panther Intercollegiate Monday, March 21 and Tuesday, March 22 at Eagle's Landing Country Club in Stockbridge, Ga.
"There are so many great things about having a home tournament," said head coach Cathy Mant. "We get to showcase what our team does and how they perform against other competition with the home fans. They get an opportunity to see us play and I think that is so important. It will really illustrate how big our program is when we have teams coming from all over the country to play."
Georgia State has won its home tournament the past three years and taken back-to-back medalists in individual competition. At the 2010 John Kirk/Panther Intercollegiate, the Panthers blew away the other competition in the field taking the top spot with a 14-stroke lead over second place, the sixth-best margin of victory in Georgia State women's golf history.
The Panthers will show their southern hospitality to 14 other universities coming from as far south as Miami, Fla. and as far north as Ann Arbor, Mich. The 15-team field contains eight teams in the top 100 of the GolfStat rankings as well as two of the top 100 collegiate female golfers in the country, No. 19 Nicole Zhang of Notre Dame and Georgia State's Charlotte Lorentzen at No. 63.
The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame hold the highest ranking of all the teams at No. 25 followed by No. 54 Michigan, No. 67 Western Carolina, No. 69 Maryland, No. 70 Georgia State, No. 77 UCF, No. 84 ETSU and No. 89 Middle Tennessee State. The remaining seven teams in the 2011 field are Arkansas State, Daytona State, James Madison, Miami, Mississippi State, Murray State and Xavier.
"I'm excited that the girls know the course, which serves as a slight advantage," said Mant. "When you have other teams coming to play a foreign course, the extra knowledge of the nuances of the greens allows us to better know where and how to play the course. It is helpful to have a home event because of that reason. We are looking forward to having excellent weather and a great competitive field. It is going to be a superb week to get the chance to win our fourth-in-a-row."
Junior Lorentzen will lead the Panthers in defending their title after her third-place finish two weeks ago at the SunTrust Gator Women's Invitational. The Soroe, Denmark native fired a record-setting and career-best 6-under 64 in the second round to earn that week's Colonial Athletic Association Golfer of the Week honor. Lorentzen has collected six top-5 finishes throughout her career and will look to add one more to the list at the Panthers' home tournament.
Like Lorentzen, junior Charlotte Guilleux enters the John Kirk/Panther Intercollegiate after a recent CAA Golfer of the Week nod. She snagged the award for the first time following her eighth place finish three weeks ago at the Kinderlou Forest Challenge. The St. Maur De Fosses, France shot a 2-under 71, her best round while at Georgia State, during the second round of the tournament to help propel Georgia State to a seventh place finish.
Joining the pair of Charlottes in Georgia State's line-up are redshirt-junior Cherishton Brett and freshmen Solveig Helgesen and Laura Sanchez. Sophomore Jennifer Worsham will play her first event since joining the Panthers in the fall, competing as an individual.
Monday will consist of 36 holes of play beginning with a 9 a.m. shotgun start. Tuesday will also feature a 9 a.m. start for the final 18 holes. Full details and results will be posted at www.GeorgiaStateSports.com at the conclusion of each round.
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