Feb. 1, 2018
| 2017-18 Auburn Women's Golf | Event #5 | UCF Challenge | |
| Dates | Sunday, Feb. 4-Tuesday, Feb. 6 |
| Location | Eagle Creek Golf Club (Par 72, 6,350 yards) | Orlando, Fla. |
| Host | Central Florida |
| Format | 54-hole medal play; four individual scores count toward team total |
| Field | Auburn, UCF, College of Charleston, East Carolina, Iowa State, Memphis, Miami, Mississippi State, UNCW, Old Dominion, Penn State, SMU, Texas Tech, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin |
| Online | Live Scoring | Twitter: @AuburnWGolf | Auburn Season Stats |
| AU Tee Times | Sunday/Monday/Tuesday: TBD |
| Auburn's Lineup | |
| Elena Hualde Sophomore Pamplona, Spain (1) | Kaleigh Telfer Freshman Kyalami, South Africa (2) | Kelli Murphy Senior Elgin, S.C. (3) | Mychael O'Berry Freshman Hoover, Ala. (4) | Julie McCarthy Freshman Swords, Ireland (5) | Kayley Marschke Sophomore Suwanee, Ga. (Ind.) |
AUBURN, Ala. -- The Auburn women's golf team opens the spring portion of the 2017-18 season next week as they travel to Orlando, Fla., for the UCF Challenge.
The tournament runs Sunday-Tuesday at Eagle Creek Golf Club (par 72, 6,350 yards). Tee times and pairings will be announced later; live scoring is available at golfstat.com.
Auburn heads into the spring season ranked No. 34 in the nation by GolfStat. With a 290.58 scoring average through four fall events, the Tigers earned two top-five team finishes in the fall and three top-10 individual showings.
This is the first of four regular-season team events for the Tigers in the spring, highlighted by the Evans Derby Experience March 18-20 at the Auburn University Club.
With Auburn's top player of the fall, senior Michaela Owen, unavailable due to injury, third-year head coach Melissa Luellen will lead one of her youngest lineups ever into this week's tournament with three freshmen among the six players traveling to Orlando.
"Three freshmen, two sophomores and a senior," Luellen said. "It's a very young lineup, but it's very exciting because those kids have been practicing for a few weeks now and we're ready to compete. Enough practice, let's go play."
Sophomore Elena Hualde takes the No. 1 spot in the lineup, followed by freshman Kaleigh Telfer, senior Kelli Murphy, and freshmen Mychael O'Berry and Julie McCarthy. Sophomore Kayley Marschke will compete as an individual.
McCarthy, a native of Ireland, enrolled at Auburn in January and will be playing in her first collegiate tournament. With sunny skies and highs in the mid-70s in the Orlando forecast, she's ready for a major change from typical January weather at home.
"Since arriving at Auburn I have really enjoyed it," McCarthy said. "I'm excited to play a golf tournament in nice weather, as coming from Ireland we don't usually get that opportunity at this time of year. I am really looking forward to it."
The field at UCF this week includes Auburn, UCF, College of Charleston, East Carolina, Iowa State, Memphis, Miami, Mississippi State, UNCW, Old Dominion, Penn State, SMU, Texas Tech, Tulane, Vanderbilt and Wisconsin.
This is Auburn's fourth appearance in this event. The Tigers won the 2012 UCF Challenge, finished fifth in 2009 and seventh last season.
For the latest on Auburn women's golf, follow @AuburnWGolf on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.