Women’s Golf Returns to Action in PING/ASU Invitational

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Fresh off a sweep of the team and individual titles at the Gators Invitational in Florida, No. 16 Arizona Women’s Golf will return to action in their home state as part of the field of the PING/ASU Invitational at Papago Golf Course in Phoenix on Thursday. The Wildcats won the University of Florida’s tournament three weeks ago in wire-to-wire fashion, downing runner-up Clemson by 16 strokes. Sophomore Nena Wongthanavimok earned co-medalist honors alongside UCF’s Pimpisa Sisutham to pick up her first collegiate victory.

“We have been playing great golf this year and continue to improve with each tournament,” said head coach Laura Ianello. “The team win and Nena’s individual title at the Gators Invitational were the culmination of our team’s growth and development throughout the year, and it was a great momentum boost for all our young ladies. I am excited to see us come out and compete at a course we are very familiar with and card some more excellent scores.”

Papago Golf Course was the site of last year’s Pac-12 Championships, which saw Arizona mix it up at the top of the leaderboard throughout three days before finishing in fourth place. The trio of Julia Misemer, Carolina Melgrati and Lilas Pinthier all tied for 11^th place at 1-under in the conference championship a year ago.

Wongthanavimok, who was named Pac-12 Golfer of the Week for her win in Florida, led the Wildcats’ dominance of the Gators Invitational leaderboards. She was one of four Arizona golfers to finish in the top 15 alongside Melgrati, Misemer and Gile Bite Starkute. The sophomore from Bangkok, Thailand was the third Wildcat golfer to earn weekly conference honors in 2024 following Starkute and freshman Charlotte Back.

Arizona last won the PING/ASU Invitational in its magical 2018 season that ended with the Wildcats winning the NCAA National Championship. The 2018 title is one of four tournament crowns Arizona has won at the Sun Devil’s home tournament.,