AUBURN, Ala. – Memories of last season's postseason run and semifinal finish at the NCAA Championships are still fresh for the Auburn women's golf team, but a new season begins Monday as the Tigers open the 2019-20 campaign in the Cougar Classic.
"You can never rest on your laurels," Auburn head coach Melissa Luellen said. "It's a great memory, something to celebrate, but now it is a new year. I still feel like we have a lot to prove. I don't feel that other teams look at us as an elite team. I don't think we've earned that status yet."
The Cougar Classic will give Auburn, ranked No. 13 preseason, an early opportunity to prove it belongs. The tournament, held at Yeamans Hall (Par 72, 6,301 yards) in Hanahan, South Carolina, will feature a total of 17 teams, including four teams ranked in the top 10 with Florida State (5), Vanderbilt (7), Florida (8) and Wake Forest (9).
This will be Auburn's first time playing in the tournament since 2015.
"The field is high quality," Luellen said. "I was just looking through it the other day, and it's a very good field. It's a tournament that we would like to jump out and have a good showing. It will benefit us in the long run for sure."
The good news for the Tigers is that everybody is back from last year's team. However, they will be without the services of junior Julie McCarthy for the first tournament as the All-SEC selection from a year ago continues her recovery from a wrist injury.
With McCarthy not in the lineup, Auburn will go with fellow junior Mychael O'Berry in the No. 1 spot, followed by senior Elena Hualde Zúñiga, freshman Megan Schofill, junior Kaleigh Telfer and sophomore Brooke Sansom. Four of the five competed in last year's NCAA Championship while the other, Schofill, will be making her collegiate debut this week.
"I'm really excited," Schofill said. "Obviously nervous. I just have to go out there, play loose and be comfortable and play without a lot of expectations. I just want to see the course and play one shot at a time like I know how to.
"Being on a team has been great. All of them are really good, so I think we're going to have a solid team this year knowing that we can all play really well."
The tournament was moved back a day because of Hurricane Dorian. Each team will now play the first two rounds (36 holes) on Monday followed by the third round (18 holes) on Tuesday. Auburn will be paired with No. 5 Florida State and Tennessee for the first round, beginning at 7:45 a.m. CT.
Live scoring is available on Golfstat.com.