AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women's golf team, coming off a top-four finish at the NCAA Championship, released their 2019-20 tournament schedule this week.
"I am excited about our schedule," head coach Melissa Luellen said. "We will be returning to a couple of favorite events in the Magnolia Invitational, the Mason Rudolph Championships and the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. We haven't been to Yeamens Hall in a couple of years as we had to perform well to get invited back."
"I feel our schedule will prepare our players for the postseason, which we are all looking forward to."
Yeamens Hall Club in Hanahan, South Carolina, is home to the Cougar Classic where Auburn will open the season, Sept. 8-10. The Tigers last played in the tournament in 2016, Luellen's second year with the program.
From there, Auburn will play in two tournaments that have become staples on their schedule – the Mason Rudolph Championship (Sept. 20-22) in Franklin, Tennessee, and the Magnolia Invitational (Oct. 13-15) in West Point, Mississippi.
Auburn will close out the fall season with the East Lake Cup, one of the premier tournaments in college golf. The event, held at East Lake GC in Atlanta, is exclusive to the four national semifinalists from the season before and will be shown live on the Golf Channel. This year's field includes Auburn, Arizona, Wake Forest and last year's national champion, Duke.
"Our NCAA semifinal finish landed us a spot in the coveted East Lake Cup," Luellen said. "I know the team is really looking forward to playing at a prestigious golf venue. We plan on playing great and exposing the Auburn brand on the Golf Channel."
The spring schedule begins in California where Auburn will compete in the Northrup Grunman Regional Challenge at the Palos Verdes Golf Club from Feb. 9-11.
The Tigers will also return to the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate (March 6-8) in the spring, and they add the Grove Cup (April 7-8) in Oxford, Mississippi, to close out the regular season. But the highlight will come March 27-29 when Auburn hosts the Evans Derby Experience for the third consecutive year.
"In two short years the Evans Derby Experience has earned a reputation as a great event," Luellen said. "It is such a wonderful thing to provide the opportunity to play at home. It only happens one time a year."
The postseason will begin April 14-19 with the SEC Championship at Greystone G&CC in Birmingham, Alabama. And then it's on to the NCAA Regional three weeks later (May 11-13). The host schools for this year's regionals include Georgia, North Carolina State, Notre Dame and Washington State.
The ultimate goal for Luellen and her Auburn team will be to return to the 2020 NCAA Championship, May 22-27, at Grayhawk GC in Scottsdale, Arizona.