Women’s Golf Poised for Strong Showing at the B1G Championships

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Penn State women’s golf team will have a home state advantage at this weekend’s Big Ten Championships when the Nittany Lions arrive at Fox Chapel Golf Club just a mere two and a half hours from State College.

This year’s B1G Championship will have a different feel as the last four championships that were contested were played in Maineville, Ohio at the TPC River’s Bend course. The Nittany Lions finished sixth last year, their highest finish since 2014 and their fourth-best finish in program history. Then-junior Sarah Willis (Eaton, Ohio) finished sixth individually earning a spot on the All-Championship team and registering the best finish for a Nittany Lion since 2018. Willis’ weekend was highlighted by a 5-under, 67, during the second round on Saturday.

The format of the championship is 54 holes and is scored by six count four, so each team will have six players and the top four scores from each round will count toward the team total. Each round will feature split tees with tee times beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and 8:00 a.m. on Sunday.

The Nittany Lions will open the championship on Friday morning going off the ninth hole every nine minutes from 9:33 a.m. through 10:18 a.m.

All 14 Big Ten universities will be represented this week led by No. 18 Michigan while four other schools; Illinois (No. 26), Michigan State (No. 34), Northwestern (No. 36) and Purdue (No. 44) are each ranked inside the GolfStat top-50.

Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio State, Rutgers, Wisconsin and Nebraska join the Nittany Lions to round of the field of 14.

THE COURSE

• Fox Chapel Golf Club, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, sits just 141 miles from Happy Valley and recently underwent a restoration in 2020. The restoration included building 97 new bunkers to shapes as seen on the original 1923 course. Sand lines, mowing lines, green shapes, and fairway widths were also restored to architect Seth Raynor’s original design. Some signature greens were restored while 12 new forward tee boxes were added and several back tees were extended even further to lengthen the course, which will play as a par-71, 6,045-yard layout this weekend.
• The course is consistently ranked among the Top 100 Best Classic Courses by Golfweek Magazine and has been named a top-10 course in the state of Pennsylvania by LINKS…