Sooners, Cowgirls, Hurricane set for Schooner Fall Classic at Belmar CC
NORMAN – The University of Oklahoma women’s golf team hosts the ninth Schooner Fall Classic Sept. 24-26 at the Belmar Golf Club. Oklahoma State University and the University of Tulsa are also competing.
The three-day, 54-hole event will feature 15 teams and admission is free. The state schools are joined by Baylor, Clemson, Florida State, Illinois, Iowa State, Houston, Louisville, North Texas, TCU, Texas State, UTSA and Virginia Tech.
Oklahoma opened the season at the Carmel Cup at the Pebble Beach Golf Links Sept. 2-4. The Sooners finished seventh and were led by Nina Lang, who tied for 24th. Mikahaela Fortuna joined Lang in the top 30, tying for 29th.
A pair of Sooners, Savannah Barber and Raychel Nelke, made their first appearances in the Crimson and Cream. Maria Fernanda Martinezand Meagan Winans also appeared in the season-opening lineup.
Fortuna, Barber, Maritnez, Nelke and Winans make up the Oklahoma lineup at the Schooner.
Four additional Sooners, Kaylee Vesely, Nina Lang, Gracie Mayo and Madison Smith, are competing as individuals in the field.
Standout Maddison Hinson-Tolchard will lead the Cowgirl lineup once again this weekend. To open the 2022-23 season, she posted a top-6 performance after shooting rounds of 70-72-73 (-1) 215 at the Carmel Cup. She was one of just eight players to finish the event under-par.
Hinson-Tolchard also saw plenty of success at the Schooner Fall Classic a season ago, where she finished in a tie for 5th at even-par.
Han-Hsuan Yu is also back in the Cowgirl lineup following yet another top-10 outing at the Carmel Cup. Yu’s top-6 result at the season-opener marked her fifth top-10 finish in her last eight tournaments played, dating back to last spring.
Sophomore Clemence Martin is set to make her first start of the new season this weekend. As a freshman, Martin carded a stroke average of 71.84 in 19 rounds, the second lowest on the team, before an injury cut her rookie year short.
Senior Hailey Jones and junior Rina Tatematsu will round out the Cowgirl lineup in Norman. At the Carmel Cup, Jones recorded a top-11 finish at 2-over. Her third round 69 at the event was tied for the lowest score of the day among the field, and her lowest 18-hole score since her freshman season.
In last year’s Schooner Fall Classic, Tatematsu put on an absolute clinic, blasting rounds of 68-72-66 (-4) 206 on her way to a 2nd-place finish. Her 206 was her best 54-hole score of the season, and her final round 66 tied the lowest 18-hole score of her career.
Freshmen Thitaporn Saithip and Cecilie Leth-Nissen will also travel to Norman, where the two will compete as individuals. The pair made their Cowgirl debuts in the team’s season-opener earlier this month.
Tulsa, coming off a third-place finish in the Green Wave Classic in Tulane, will be without its top player as Lilly Thomas is competing in the Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship on the LPGA Tour this weekend in Rogers, Ark. TU freshmen Grace Kilcrease and Jenni Roller will be making their second starts, both shot under par in their debut last week.
Live scoring and final results will be posted on GolfStat.com.