Women's golf continues fall season at Pinehurst Challenge

Women's golf continues fall season at Pinehurst ChallengeWomen's golf continues fall season at Pinehurst Challenge

Oct. 9, 2016

2016-17 Auburn Women's Golf - Pinehurst Challenge
DatesMonday, Oct. 10-Tuesday, Oct. 11
LocationPinehurst No. 1 | Pinehurst, N.C.
HostCollege of Charleston
Format54-hole medal play; four individual scores count toward team total
FieldAuburn, Charleston Southern, College of Charleston, East Carolina, Elon, Georgia State, High Point, Jacksonville State, James Madison, Kennesaw State, Maryland, Morehead State, UNC Greensboro, North Florida, Samford, Wichita State, William & Mary
OnlineLive Scoring | Twitter: @AuburnWGolf | Auburn Season Stats
AU Tee TimesMonday (36 holes): 7:30 a.m. CT shotgun start
Tuesday: TBD


Michaela Owen
Junior
Suwanee, Ga.
(1)
Elena Hualde
Freshman
Pamplona, Spain
(2)
Kayley Marschke
Freshman
Suwanee, Ga.
(3)
Kelli Murphy
Junior
Elgin, S.C.
(4)
Mai Dechathipat
Sophomore
Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.
(5)
Clara Baena
Junior
Madrid, Spain
(Individual)

AUBURN, Ala. -- The Auburn women's golf team looks to continue its strong start to the 2016-17 season, playing its fourth tournament of the fall this week at the Pinehurst Challenge in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

An 18-team field awaits the Tigers at the par 72, 5,974-yard Pinehurst No. 1 at the historic Pinehurst Resort. Auburn is the only SEC team in the field and the highest-ranked team at No. 31 in the latest Golfweek rankings.

Junior Michaela Owen will lead an Auburn lineup that consists of herself, freshmen Elena Hualde and Kayley Marschke, junior Kelli Murphy and sophomore Mai Dechathipat. It's the same starting five the Tigers have sent out for all three events so far this season. Senior Clara Baena will also travel to Pinehurst and compete as an individual.

Owen looks to keep up her strong play and build off a top-10 finish at last week's Cougar Classic. She became the third different Auburn player in the last 10 years to record all three rounds under par at a 54-hole event, shooting 68-71-71=210 (-6) in Charleston last week, earning a seventh-place finish. Combined with Hualde's victory at the season-opening Fall Kickoff and a sixth-place showing at the Mason Rudolph Championship, Auburn has posted a top-10 individual finish in every event so far this year.

Along with Auburn and host College of Charleston, this week's field consists of Charleston Southern, East Carolina, Elon, Georgia State, High Point, Jacksonville State, James Madison, Kennesaw State, Maryland, Morehead State, UNC Greensboro, North Florida, Samford, Wichita State and William & Mary.

The teams will play 36 holes Monday and finish the event with an 18-hole round Tuesday. Auburn is paired with College of Charleston, East Carolina and Maryland on the first three holes for Monday's first two rounds, which get underway with a 7:30 a.m. CT shotgun start.

Live scoring is available at golfstat.com, and fans can follow @AuburnWGolf on Twitter and Instagram for updates throughout the weekend.