Women’s Golf Opens Fall Campaign at Cougar Classic in South Carolina

HANAHAN, S.C. – The Penn State women’s golf team will travel to the 18th annual Cougar Classic hosted by the College of Charleston at Yeamans Hall Club this week.

Penn State took flight on Saturday and plays its practice round on Sunday with the tournament beginning early Monday morning with a 36-hole day followed by a final 18 on Tuesday.

“I love this time of year, I love the energy that everyone has, there are a lot of reasons to be excited,” commented head coach Denise St. Pierre.

NITTANY LION TRIO EARN B1G PRESEASON ACCOLADES

• Senior Sarah Willis (Eaton, Ohio) was named a preseason honoree for the fourth time in her career while senior Mathilde Dellavallade (Royan, France) received her third consecutive preseason mention and classmate Isha Dhruva (Katy, Texas) earned her second-straight preseason accolade.
• Delavallade paced the Nittany Lions during the 2021-22 campaign with a 73.77 stroke average and a pair of top-5 finishes including her individual medalist honors at the Nittany Lion Invitational where she fired three sub-70 rounds leading to a career-best 10-under finish, just one stroke off the tournament record. The Royan, France native, also finished tied for fifth at the Boston College Intercollegiate.
• Willis finished slightly behind Delavallade with a 74.04 stroke average and one top-5 finish also coming at the Nittany Lion invitational last season. She used a Nittany Lion record and career-low round of 6-under, 66, during the second round and finished the weekend fifth.
• Dhruva finished fifth on the team with a 75.90 stroke average and had her best career finish posting 4-under, 212, at the UNF Collegiate finishing the tournament fourth in the 90-player field.

GRITTY PERFORMANCE

• After playing in just a pair of events as an individual during her freshman season in 2021-22, sophomore Michelle Cox (Allentown, Pa.) finished second during team qualifying this fall and has earned her way into the starting lineup this weekend.

“I’m excited for Michelle to be joining our team,” mentioned St. Pierre. “When you have a team like ours where we didn’t graduate anyone, I think it helps to have a little shakeup. Having someone new inserted into the lineup can give us the spark we need.”

THE TEAM

• Delavallade finished first in team qualifying last weekend concluding the seven rounds with a 6-under, 66, on…