Women's golf announces six-state schedule
8/3/2016 6:09:00 PM | Women's Golf
HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston State women's golf program will play 10 tournaments in six different states on top of the Southland Conference Championship during the 2016-17 season, head coach Brandt Kieschnick announced on Wednesday.
The Bearkats begin the fall slate on Sept. 12, heading to the two-day Hobble Creek Fall Classic in Springville, Utah. Two weeks later, the squad hosts the Bearkat Women's Invitational at Huntsville's Raven Nest Golf Club to highlight to fall season.
“This is really an exciting year for the women's program,” Kieschnick said. “I think we potentially have the best team and the best potential to do some great things and we want the schedule to reflect that. We've got some unbelievably talented freshmen and a great transfer coming in.”
Among the new additions to the schedule includes the new site for the Southland Championships, which will be held in Montgomery at Woodforest Golf Club. A season ago, the Bearkats finished fourth at the event in McKinney, led by Heather Shake who took fourth overall.
“I think we're going to have a home advantage in a sense that we've played there,” Kieschnick said. “We will have a bunch of family there supporting us. I have a lot of expectations to bring it home. Once the competition starts, you treat it like any other course. Our goal is to peak by then.”
Sam Houston will also return to Tacoma, Wash., for the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational, scheduled Oct. 10-11. There, the Bearkats will face a plethora of talented programs including defending national champion University of Washington.
While the squad will familiarize itself will its share of west coast programs between trips to Utah and Washington, there will also be plenty of inter-conference battles. Sam Houston visits the Islander Classic, hosted by A&M-Corpus Christi (Feb. 27-28) as well as the HBU Husky Intercollegiate at Houston Baptist (March 27-28).
Several Southland teams will also join the Kats in Huntsville on Oct. 3-4 at Raven Nest Country Club. The event, which enters its second year as a women's-only field, saw the Kats take sixth a year ago highlighted by Shake's second-place finisher.
“We love Huntsville and our facility. We want to showcase it because we're proud of it. We want the teams to have a good time. It's a very good event. We love our university and we want to show it off. We've had a full field the last two years so it will be exciting.”
The Bearkats will have an opportunity to defend their back-to-back team championships at the Bob Hurley ORU Shootout in Tulsa, Okla., with the event slated for Sept. 26-27. Shake was awarded the individual champion while the Kats' team title was their 32nd in team lore.
“We won that one last year and we won that first one in the spring,” Kieschnick said. “Last year, we got pretty confident but I think we were very talented but weren't as deep. I think we have a good shot to win tournaments and build on. You're going to have to fight to qualify for this team.”
The team opens its fall slate Feb. 20-21 in Jacksonville, Fla., the first of two trips to the city, with the Amelia Island Classic. Sam Houston returns April 3-4 for the Web.com Intercollegiate with another talented field expected.
