AUBURN, Ala. -- The Auburn women's golf team is set to kick off its 2022-23 campaign at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate at Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo, Minn. on Monday. The Tigers will look to start off the fall season strong after a historic 2021-22 season where the team finished as a national semifinalist at the NCAA Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The new Auburn lineup will look slightly different than last season, as the Tigers will be without Kaleigh Telfer, Julie McCarthy and Mychael O'Berry, each of which were fifth year seniors during the 2021-22 season.
The newcomers to the lineup include redshirt freshman Casey Weindenfeld and junior Ashley-Sinclair Curtis who will be playing in just her fourth career tournament for the Tigers. Some familiar faces from last season's lineup that got the nod this week include senior Megan Schofill and juniors Anna Foster and Elina Sinz.
"I'm extremely blessed to have this opportunity," Curtis said about being selected to compete in the first tournament. "I just want to go out there and have fun. Obviously, I want to play the best golf that I can and glorify God while I'm competing. All in all, I'm just excited to be there."
Auburn will be facing a stellar field that includes four of the top 10 teams in the nation, and 11 of the 12 teams competing are ranked in the top 25 according to Golfweek. The Tigers are one of those 11 teams, as they were tabbed No. 14 in the preseason poll.
"Iron sharpens iron. We're going to get better by playing better teams," Curtis said. "The better teams we play, the better we'll get."
The Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo, Minn., which will play at 6,408 yards, was designed by golf legends Annika Sorenstam and Arnold Palmer. Sorenstam designed the front nine and Palmer designed the back nine, and the nines are deemed "The Queen's Nine" and "The King's Nine" respectively.
Auburn will be teeing off Palmer's back nine paired with players from Virginia and Texas in round one beginning at 8:05 a.m. CT. Here is the lineup and round one tee times for Auburn:
1. Anna Foster – 8:45 a.m.
2. Megan Schofill – 8:35 a.m.
3. Elina Sinz – 8:25 a.m.
4. Casey Weidenfeld – 8:15 a.m.
5. Ashley-Sinclair Curtis – 8:05 a.m.
Live scoring for the ANNIKA Invitational is available on Golfstat.com and the GolfStat mobile app.
