CHARLESTON, S.C. — Wisconsin women’s golf tees off the 2022-23 season at the Cougar Classic this Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 12-13, at Yeamans Hall in Charleston, South Carolina.
Here are the five things to know as the Badgers hit the links:
1. New Year, New Faces: Wisconsin welcomes two new freshman — Alexia Siehl and Yongze Cheng — to the roster and returns seven golfers led by seniors Emily Lauterbach and Nicole Ciskowski.
“We’re excited to get started this weekend,” said Wisconsin head coach Todd Oehrlein. “The Cougar Classic is a tournament that we’ve played in in the past and it’s a very strong field to start our season.
“The players have had good summers and the early fall has been very competitive. We’ve been excited to see more low scores from multiple players so far. Throughout the fall, we’ll be playing in highly competitive tournament fields on great golf courses. It’s an opportunity to get off to a strong start and we’ll need that depth as we work through the fall.”
2. The Course: Yeamans Hall Club is a 6,301-yard, par-72 course designed by Seth Raynor and Charles Banks in 1926. This private club is ranked No. 99 on Golf Digest’s Top 100 Courses in 2021 and has been in the top 100 since 2015.
3. The Tournament: The Cougar Classic is hosted by the College of Charleston. Monday will be 36 holes of consecutive play, shotgun style starting at 7:30 a.m. CST. Tuesday will be an 18-hole shotgun starting at 7:45 a.m. CST. Wisconsin finished the 2021 Cougar Classic tied for 10th place (295-291-291 = 877 (+13). This tied the 12th-lowest 54-hole score in Wisconsin program history and the Badgers also finished ahead of the three other Big Ten competitors in the tournament — No. 22 Maryland, Michigan State and Penn State. Then-freshman Vanesso Ho paced the Badgers, placing 35th overall (74-74-70=218).
4. The Field: Competing in the tournament are Charleston, Central Florida, Clemson, East Carolina, Florida State, Furman, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisville, Miami (Fla.), Michigan State, Mississippi, North Carolina, N.C. State, Penn State, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Competing for the Badgers are Lauterbach, Chloe Chan, Vanessa Ho, Siehl and Gia Feliciano.
5. The Gallery: Fans can follow live stats on Golfstat.com and can follow live updates on Wisconsin at the @BadgerWGolf Twitter page.