Sooners Back in Action in South Carolina

NORMAN, Okla. – The eighth-ranked University of Oklahoma women's golf team returns to the course this weekend in Hilton Head Island, S.C., where it will compete in the 17-team Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. The event will be played Friday-Sunday (March 7-9) and features 13 squads ranked in Golfweek's top 30.

The Sooners are coming off a tie for eighth place at the prestigious Northrop Grumman Invitational Feb. 9-11 in Palos Verdes, Calif. The squad logged an 893 (+41) in the tournament, which featured seven teams in Golfweek's top 10. Freshman Alexandra Kaui led the Sooners, carding a three-round 215 (+2) and tying for third place.

Fifth-year Oklahoma head coach Veronique Drouin-Luttrell said she is excited for the great competition at the tournament.

“It's a really good field again. This year's schedule is one of the best we've had since I've been here,” Drouin-Luttrell said. “We're playing in very competitive tournaments and there are great teams at this event. It's a great golf course and a great tournament for us to be invited to, so we're excited to get out there and play some golf.”

Teams will start play at 7 a.m. CT Friday.

TOURNAMENT FIELD (GOLFWEEK RANKINGS IN PARENTHESES)
Duke (3)
Stanford (4)
Arkansas (6)
Oklahoma (8)
Arizona (9)
Alabama (10)
South Carolina (14)
Vanderbilt (15)
Kentucky (17)
Wake Forest (24)
North Carolina (26)
Auburn (27)
Virginia (28)
Georgia (50)
Tennessee (56)
Furman (82)
Louisiana State

OU LINEUP
1. Alexandra Kaui, Freshman: Coming off a third-place tie at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in February … Holds the low-round record at Oklahoma at 65 (-7) … No. 12 in the Golfweek individual rankings … Has finished in the top 20 in all five of her career events.

2. Chirapat Jao-Javanil, Senior: Finished tied for 25^th at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge … Has finished in the top 40 in all five season events … Is No. 54 in the Golfweek individual rankings … The 2012 NCAA individual champion.

3. Emily Collins, Senior: Finished tied for 68^th at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge … Has finished in the top 40 in four out of five season events … Finished tied for seventh at the Alamo Invitational in the fall (213 [-3]).

4. Anne-Catherine Tanguay, Senior: Finished tied for 56^th at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge … Finished in the top 35 in four out of five season events … No. 70 in the Golfweek individual rankings.

5. Kaitlyn Rohrback, Senior: Coming off a tie for 17^th at the Alamo Invitational … Ranked 103rd individually by Golfweek … Finished in the top 55 in all four fall events.

THE COURSE
The 6,142-yard, par-71 Pete Dye-designed Long Cove Golf Club is the host site for the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate.

FORMAT
Teams will compete in 54 holes of stroke play over three days (18 holes each Friday, Saturday and Sunday). Play will begin each morning at 7 a.m. CT.

WEATHER FORECAST
Friday: High of 49 degrees with a 30 percent chance of rain and NNW winds at 15-20 mph.
Saturday: High of 64 degrees with a 20 percent chance of rain and NW winds at 10 mph.
Sunday: High of 68 degrees with a 10 percent chance of rain and WSW winds at 10-15 mph.

LIVE STATS
Live scoring will be available at GolfStat.com.