No. 23 Lady'Back golfers travel to UCF Invitational

FAYETTEVILLE – The 23rd-ranked University of Arkansas women’s golf team returns to the links and to the Sunshine State for the UCF Invitational in Grand Cypress, Fla., Monday and Tuesday. “It’s a very strong field,” said head coach Kelley Hester. “A top-notch field and it’s a good measure of where we are right now.” Fourteen teams are slated to attend the UCF Invitational this week. Top-ranked Georgia headlines the strong field. Number three Pepperdine, No. 4 Duke and No. 6 Vanderbilt round out the top 10 teams. Also competing is No. 12 Purdue, No. 16 New Mexico, No. 19 Florida, No. 23 Arkansas, No. 26 LSU, No. 27 Ohio State, No. 34 Alabama, No. 43 SMU, No. 71 Miami and No. 84 UCF. Arkansas is competing at the UCF Invitational for the first time in program history but seeing several teams that the Lady Razorbacks are familiar with. In fact, this event will serve as a bit of a Southeastern Conference Championship preview with six of the 12 league teams competing. Arkansas has also faced Duke, Ohio State, Purdue and SMU already this year. The Lady’Backs send a young but strong lineup to the Sunshine State headlined by junior Stacy Lewis. Lewis is joined by newcomer Kristin Ingram, a transfer who joined the team at the semester. In addition, sophomore Lucy Nunn, junior Whitney Sylvan and Alex Schulte. “We’re looking for a little better finish than last time (at the Central District Challenge),” said Hester. “We really battled the weather and didn’t get much outside practice time before the first event. We were rusty and it showed. But we’ve had really good weather this week and had some great practices. We fell much more prepared this week.” In addition, the UCF Invitational features a special bonus for the medalist as she will receive a sponsor’s exemption to play in the LPGA’s Sybase Classic on May 14-20, in Clifton, N.J. For more information about Arkansas golf, please log on to LADYBACKS.COM.