After playing well in the “Cougar Classic,” the Lady Vols golf team looks to stay strong in the Golfweek Challenge, which begins today in Vail, Colorado.
In a “Cougar Classic” field that included defending national champion Duke and powerhouse teams UCLA and Arkansas, Tennessee mustered a seventh-place finish. Anna Newell led the way for the Lady Vols in last week’s tournament, finishing tied for 11th. This was the second highest finish among freshmen at the event.
“She’s been a great junior player,” head coach Judi Pavon said. “We’ve been just waiting and waiting for her to get here because we knew she’d have a nice impact on our team and our program. I think that she’ll be a great player in college golf… She could definitely be an All-American multiple times.”
Newell was pleased with the tournament outcome, but the UT freshman stressed the need to improve her putting and iron-shots during the season.
“I had a lot of three-putts from long distances,” Newell said. “I put myself in that position with some poor iron shots, so I can work on those to get closer to the hole and be more confident with my swings.”
The “Golfweek Challenge” will take place at the top-ranked Tom Fazio golf course in Colorado. Pavon hasn’t seen the 6,262-yard, par-72 course since 2010, but she remembers it well, stating that the course is “at a high altitude” and will likely “play shorter.” The course has four par-5’s, three par-3’s and 11 par-4’s.
Pavon will be taking the same five Lady Vols she took to the “Cougar Classic” in the order that they finished: Anna Newell, AJ Newell, Lucia Polo, Blakesly Warren and Hannah Pietila.
“I felt like they all performed well-enough to keep their spots,” Pavon said. “It was a good team finish for us, so I want to keep them together.”
Returning to the field is back-to-back “Golfweek Challenge” champion Pepperdine University. Along with the Waves, other top teams include Denver, Campbell, Texas and TCU, all of whom are ranked higher than the Lady Vols.
“It’s a really varied field because they invite one team from as many conferences as they can,” Pavon said. “There’s a lot of teams we probably won’t play again until regionals, so it will be a good look at a bunch of different people.”
Tournament play lasts through Wednesday, and the Lady Vols will be paired with players from Georgetown and Nebraska. Today’s tee times include Warren at 10:45 a.m., Pietila at 10:54 a.m., Polo at 11:03 a.m., AJ Newell at 11:12 a.m. and Anna Newell at 11:21 a.m.
