LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State women's golf team will begin its 2017 spring season competing in the Peg Barnard Invitational, Feb. 11-12, at the Stanford Golf Club in Stanford, Calif.
Looking forward to strong competition at the invitational, coach
Danny Bowen commented, "Stanford always hosts a first class event. So we feel privileged to be given the opportunity to come out and play strong with other elite competition. Practices have gone well the past few weeks, so we'll be able to gauge where we're at in comparison to the number one team in the nation (Stanford), as well as the rest of the field."
The Aggies are joined on the course by 10 teams, four of which sit in the top-50 rankings across the country. NM State's opponents for the week are No. 43 Colorado, UC Davis, Long Beach State, Nevada, No. 36 Oregon, Oregon State, No. 47 San Jose State, host and top-ranked Stanford, USF and Washington State.
The 36-hole invitational will be played over two days at the Stanford Golf Club. Golfers will begin with a shotgun start 9:30 a.m. MT each day. Live stats for the tournament can be followed on
GolfStat.
Pun Chanachai,
Kristen Cline,
Dominique Galloway,
Kennedie Montoya and
Camille Orito will be competing for the Aggies this weekend. This will be the first event of Galloway's Aggie career as the freshman recently transferred to NM State from the University of Texas.
The Stanford G.C. is a 6.084 yard, par-71 layout. The oak-tree lined course is often rated as one of the finest courses in the world and has hosted premier events such as the Stanford Intercollegiate, Pac-10 Conference Championships, NCAA Regional, NCAA Women's Championships, USGA Junior Amateur Qualifying, U.S. Open Qualifying and The Gathering at The Farm, a former Senior PGA Tour event.
NM State heads into the events coming off of two first-place finishes (Red Raider Invitational, NM State Aggie Invitational) during the winter season. Strong team play has been led by freshman
Pun Chanachai who posts a stroke average of 72.75 and junior
Kennedie Montoya at 73.82.
Following the Peg Barnard Invitational, the Aggies will then travel to Peoria, Ariz. to take part in the Westbrook Spring Invitational, Feb. 26-27.
The remainder of the spring season contains four more team events before the WAC Championships which the coaches believe will get their team ready, as they said, "Overall for the spring, our schedule is real strong which we think will prepare us well for postseason play. One of our team goals all year has been to earn an 'at large' bid to NCAA Regionals (Ranking in the Top-50), so these events will give us a great opportunity to achieve that. We're excited to see what this team can do!"
