AUBURN, Ala. – It's been a strong start to 2020 for the Auburn women's golf team. They've had individual winners in each of the first two tournaments, and they also secured a team title at the Lake Oconee Invitational their last time out.
Now it's time for the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. The tournament, played at Long Cove Club (Par 71, 6,290 yards) on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, is annually one of the more prestigious college tournaments on the women's side. The Tigers finished fifth there a year ago.
This year's field consists of 12 teams ranked in Golfstat's latest top 25, including Auburn who recently moved up to No. 19 nationally. All 17 teams are in the top 40.
"We'll have equally as difficult of field strength as we saw at Northrop Grumman out in California," Auburn head coach Melissa Luellen said. "And that's really one of my goals, to continue to elevate our schedule and the teams that we see."
Freshman Megan Schofill, coming off her first collegiate win at the Lake Oconee Invitational, will play out of the No. 1 spot in Auburn's lineup this weekend. She'll be followed by junior Kaleigh Telfer, the team's other individual winner this spring. Telfer shot 6-under to finish first at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge last month.
"We'd probably have to go back in the history books to find a school that has had two winners in back-to-back tournaments," Luellen said. "It's a really hard thing to do and to have two different ones. I actually think there's one or two more that could step up and win, too. It just really shows that the competition within our team is elevating everybody. It's great to see."
Schofill and Telfer will be joined this weekend by juniors Mychael O'Berry and Julie McCarthy along with senior Elena Hualde Zúñiga. O'Berry led the Tigers in last year's Darius Rucker Intercollegiate where she finished fifth overall at even par through three rounds.
Auburn will tee off Friday beginning at 8:20 a.m. CT and will be paired with Florida State and Furman. The tournament runs through Sunday. Live scoring can be found on Golfstat.com.