ORLANDO, Fla. – Mizzou Women’s Golf was selected in the Alabama Regional of the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship to be held at Shoal Creek Golf Club on May 5-7, as announced on Golf Central on Golf Channel Monday evening. The Tigers earned a No. 8 seed in the regional that will be played in Shoal Creek, Alabama, outside of Birmingham.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled for our players and Mizzou that we earned a spot in the NCAA Regionals tonight,” head coach Stephanie Priesmeyer said. “This has been a total team effort all year long and by far one of the most competitive teams from top-to-bottom that we have had in a long time. We are excited for our lone senior, Michelle Butler, that her season will continue and she can keep leading our team this postseason.
“You never want to take these moments for granted and we have been blessed with hard-working and dedicated players that have done everything we have asked of them and more. This is for them and for all of our support staff that have helped our players be the best they can be on and off the course this season.”
The Tigers rank 11th nationally in scoring average (291.9), which is the best mark in program history by eight strokes (300.1, 2013-14). During the 2015-16 slate, Mizzou has recorded the five lowest team scores in program annals and seven of the top 10 ever.
Additionally, four of the top five individual scoring averages have been established in 2015-16, led by a program record from senior Michelle Butler (Dunedin, Fla.) and 72.59. Freshman Emma Allen (Southampton, England) has the second-best average (73.30) while junior Jessica Meek (Carnoustie, Scotland) ranks fourth (74.17) and sophomore Clara Young (North Berwick, Scotland) ranks fifth (74.21).
Allen and fellow freshman Amanda Kim (O’Fallon, Mo.) have the lowest freshmen average in program history at 73.30 and 75.00, respectively. A third freshman, Marit Harryvan (Winschoten, Netherlands) joined the program midyear and has recorded the fourth-best freshman scoring average (76.08) in program archives.
Individually, Tiger golfers have carded six of the eight lowest rounds ever in the Mizzou program and nine of the top 15. Butler set a program record with a 65 (-7) in the second round of the Johnie Imes Invitational at The Club at Old Hawthorne on Sept. 28, 2015. Young shot a 66 (-6) in the same round. As a team, Mizzou set a program record by 21 strokes by shooting
Monday’s selection marks the first NCAA Regional appearance for the program since 2008, when the Tigers completed a run of six consecutive appearances in postseason play. Mizzou made 10 appearances in an NCAA Regional over an 11-year span from 1998-2008.
The NCAA Women’s Golf Championship will be covered by Golf Channel’s Morning Drive and Golf Central shows with scores, highlights and analysis following each round. Golf Channel Digital will provide live scoring and news coverage of the regional championships.
— Mizzou Athletics —