By Jess Westendorf
The Iowa women’s golf team will compete in its last tournament of the fall slate today at the Landfall Tradition on the Dye Course in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The first and second round of the tournament will start today and Saturday with tee times set at 7:30 a.m. The final round will be played on Oct. 30 with a tee time of 7:45 a.m.
Iowa will be one of 18 teams competing in this weekend’s tournament. There will be three other Big Ten schools in attendance at Wilmington this weekend other than Iowa, including Michigan State, Penn State, and Purdue.
The Dye Golf Course will be home to the Landfall Tradition hosted by North Carolina Wilmington. The course measures a par 72 and stretches 6,166 yards. The Dye Golf Course was designed by Pete Dye, who has designed six of the first 18 “Top 100 courses you can play.”
Freshman Sophie Liu will be in the No. 1 spot for the Hawkeyes, followed by junior Jessica Ip and senior Jessie Sindlinger. Rounding out the Hawkeye lineup will be sophomore Shawn Rennegarbe and junior Morgan Kukla.
Even though this will be the first time for Iowa to compete in the Landfall Tradition, the team has an idea of what to expect. Last time out, the Hawkeyes competed in the Greenville Regional Preview and placed 10th
There, the team played on Bermuda fairways and dealt with different playing conditions, some of which they will encounter this weekend in North Carolina. The Dye Golf Course is known for the vivid scenery but also the Bent grass greens and the Bermuda fairways.
“[The Ironwood Golf Course] was really tough but it was a good learning experience,” Rennegarbe said. It was all Bermuda, and we don’t really get to play on that a lot, so I think we learned a lot for this tournament and how to play it.”
This fall, Liu has been a standout. She has started in all three tournaments and is in the lineup for the Landfall Tradition. The freshman leads the Hawkeyes with a 75.2 stroke average and has recorded her best 18-hole score of even par 72 twice at both the Red Raider Invitational and the Greenville Regional Preview.
“I feel confident in my abilities now, it gives me more motivation that we can do a lot of good things,” said Liu. “I need to trust what I have been working on and my skills. If I trust myself and skills, then it’ll show on the course.”
The Hawkeyes will open their spring schedule on Feb. 20-21, when they will travel to Port St. Lucie, Florida, for the Central District Challenge hosted by Michigan State.
