The Iowa women’s golf team is set to begin its 2022 fall season on Sept. 12 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the Dick McGuire Invitational — one of four events on the Hawkeyes’ fall slate. 

The Dick McGuire Invitational is one of three tournaments on this season’s fall docket that Iowa played in last season.

The Hawkeyes placed 14th out of 16 teams in New Mexico a year ago. In her first college tournament, sophomore Paula Miranda led the squad with a 5-over-par performance, which was good for 32nd on the individual leaderboard. 

Iowa has attended the Dick McGuire Invitational field for four of the last five seasons, partially due to a team connection to the host. 

Hawkeye head coach Megan Menzel played for the Lobos from 1993-1997 and was a two-team captain during her college career.

“Very excited about going to New Mexico, that’s my alma mater and it’s great to get out there,” Menzel told The Daily Iowan. “We start out with a really strong field, so just an opportunity for us to evaluate and kind of see where we’re at, and it’s just a really exciting opportunity for our team to get started.”

For its second event of the year, Iowa will travel to Verona, Wisconsin, to compete in the Badger Invitational, hosted by Wisconsin from Sept. 18-20.

The Hawkeyes finished ninth out of 12 teams, at last year’s tournament, and Miranda led the team once again with a top-20 finish individually. 

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“I think it’s definitely going to be helpful that I’ve seen the courses before, some of them are really great courses,” Miranda said of Iowa’s schedule. “I mean, before going to college I didn’t really play 36 holes in a row, so it was a scary thing for me. Now I can just jump back into it and be fine.”

After the Badger Invitational, Iowa will travel to Highlands Ranch, Colorado, to play in the Ron Moore Intercollegiate hosted by the University of Denver from Oct. 7-9. 

Miranda posted the best finish of her freshman season at the 2021 Ron Moore Intercollegiate. The Puebla, Mexico, native, fired a three-round total of 4-under-par, tying for second in the tournament. She made 12 birdies over the 54-hole event. Overall, the Hawkeyes shot 16-over-par, earning ninth place.

Iowa will wrap up its 2022 fall season, at the Marilyn Smith Sunflower Invitational, in Lawrence, Kansas. Iowa has never competed in the Jayhawk-hosted tournament.

Less than a week out from the start of their fall season, Menzel said the Hawkeyes are sharpening their games both physically and mentally. 

“I think we’re just really working hard and kind of zeroing in on one percent better every day,” Menzel said.” We’ve noticed that putting is an area where we’re really dialing speed on the greens, and we’ve talked a lot about decision-making when in trouble or maybe just how to play a hole. So, I think those are kind of the areas that we’re really kind of honing in on right away.”