Hawkeyes Prepare to Open Season

Sept. 8, 2011

Complete Release

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s golf team opens its season Sept. 12-13 at the Chip-N Club Invitational. The 54-hole tournament will be hosted by Big Ten foe Nebraska at the par 72, 6,186 yard Country Club of Lincoln. Both days of competition will begin with a shotgun start, with Monday’s 36-holes commencing at 9 a.m. (CT) and Tuesday’s third and final round beginning at 8:30 a.m. (CT). Live scoring will be available at GolfStat.com

QUOTING HEAD COACH Megan Menzel
“The team is playing well and is excited to compete this weekend. The short road trip will be a great opportunity for us all to get to know one another better. Kristi, Gigi and Chelsea are leading the way with some great confident play and our freshmen bring great enthusiasm and energy to our team.”

THE LINE-UP
The Hawkeyes scorecard will be filled out by Kristi Cardwell, Gigi DiGrazia, Lauren English, Chelsea Harris and Shelby Phillips. Karly Grouwinkel will compete as an individual.

THE COMPETITION
The Hawkeyes will be one of 16 teams in a field that includes; Akron, Creighton, Florida Gulf Coast, Houston Baptist, Lamar, McNeese State, Missouri State, Nebraska, North Dakota State, Redlands Community College, Sam Houston State, SMU, South Dakota State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Wichita State. Individually, the tournament’s defending champion, Amy Anderson of North Dakota State, returns to defend her title.

FRESH FACES
Lauren English (Bloomington, Ill.), Shelby Phillips (Gilbert, Ariz.) and Nicole Rae (St. Charles, Ill.) have joined the Hawkeye program for the 2011-12 season. English and Phillips were both ranked in the top 60 nationally, while Rae was a three-time all-conference honoree at St. Charles East High School.

MENZEL NAMED HEAD COACH
Megan Menzel was selected to lead the Iowa women’s golf team, becoming the fourth head coach in program history. Menzel has previous head coaching experience at Boise State (1998-99), Colorado State (2000-02) and Kansas (2002-04). Menzel played collegiately at New Mexico, where she was a two-time team captain and led the Lobos to the three Western Athletic Conference (WAC) titles (1994, 1995, 1996).

CARDWELL, HARRIS TAKE 4TH AT SUMMER EVENT
Junior Kristi Cardwell and senior Chelsea Harris teamed up during the summer to take fourth at the 2011 Hooters Women’s Collegiate Team Championship. The Hawkeye tandem ended the 54-hole event with a 279 (-9). Cardwell and Harris fired a 74 (+2) during the tournament’s alternate shot first round before carding a best-ball 67 (-5) during round two. The pair ended the tournament by recording an aggregate 138 (-6), the best score among the 58 teams who teed off at the par-72, 6,995-yard Achasta By Reynolds.