AUBURN, Ala. – After opening the season with a 4th-place finish at the Mason Rudolph Championship last month, No. 17 Auburn will return to the course this weekend at the Magnolia Invitational, which runs Sunday to Tuesday in West Point, Mississippi.
This will mark the second year for the tournament, co-hosted by Ole Miss and Mississippi State, and Auburn is one of 13 teams who will compete at Old Waverly Club (par 72; 6,320 yards), home to the 2019 U.S. Women's Amateur. In last year's inaugural event, the Tigers finished in a tie for fourth.
This year, though, they're looking to improve on that.
"It's a really good golf course," Auburn head coach Melissa Luellen said. "I think our goal as a team is that individually they all just play really well. If they can play around par, maybe have some under-par scores – collectively, I think that would get us a tournament win.
"I don't really talk about wins. The process will usually take care of itself. But I'm starting to hear the girls talk about 'We really want to win.' It's good."
The lineup for Auburn will be similar to the first tournament with junior Elena Hualde Zúñiga in the top spot followed by sophomores Kaleigh Telfer (No. 2) and Julie McCarthy (No. 3) and junior Kayley Marschke (No. 4). The one change is at the No. 5 spot where redshirt freshman Brooke Sansom will make her debut for the Tigers.
Auburn is also sending sophomore Mychael O'Berry and true freshman Anika Bolcíková, who will compete as individuals at the event.
The Tigers will be paired with hosts Ole Miss and Mississippi State for the first round and will tee off at 8:50 a.m. CT on Sunday. Live scoring is available on Golfstat.com.
The field
The 13-team field for this year's Magnolia Invitational includes Auburn, Coastal Carolina, East Tennessee, Kansas State, Kennesaw State, LSU, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Southern Miss, and Virginia Tech.
Ole Miss won the event last year followed by Memphis who finished second.
Making their debut
In addition to Sansom, Bolcíková will also be competing in her first tournament at Auburn. It's the first time either player has experienced traveling on the road with the team, who left Thursday and made a lunch stop at Top Golf in Birmingham.
"For Anika and Brooke to be playing in their first college tournament is exciting," Luellen said. "The trip is going well so far, having lots of fun, lots of laughs. Whenever you travel with people it's just different than being at home. So you get to know them on a different level."
Sansom hails from Pike Road, Alabama, where she won 17 tournament titles in her junior career. Bolcíková arrived in Auburn two months ago from Slovakia. In August, she competed at the World Amateur Team Championships in Ireland along with Zúñiga and Telfer.
Auburn continues fall season at Magnolia Invitational
