Women’s Golf on Its Way to American Championships

Sunday, April 16

Palm Coast, Fla.

All Day

University of Memphis

2017 American Athletic Conference Championship Tournament

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Women’s Golf on Its Way to American Championships

Apr 14, 2017 | Women's Golf

Lady Tigers tee off Sunday in three-day competition.

By: Tammy DeGroff

MEMPHIS – The University of Memphis women's golf team is en route the American Athletic Conference championships, which will be held Sunday through Tuesday at the Hammock Beach Golf Club in Palm Coast, Florida.

Senior Leighann Cabush heads to her fourth straight American Athletic Conference tournament. She finished in the top 10 in the inaugural event to earn all-conference honors and has been a mainstay in the Lady Tigers' lineup since. She carded a career-best round of 68 in the team's last outing, the Henssler Financial, finishing in a tie for 14^th overall.

Michaela Fletcher will be making her second conference championship tournament appearance. In her freshman season in 2015, she finished fifth at the American Championships, setting up a spring drive that ended up with Fletcher winning her way to the NCAA Championships thanks to a top five finish at the NCAA South Bend Regional. She then missed all of 2015-16 with a back injury and has fought her way back to be in the lineup for every tournament so far this year. She comes in to the conference event with three top fives to her credit this season, including a runner-up finish at the 2017 Central District hosted by Michigan State in February at St. Lucie Trail Golf Course.

Sophomore Sydney Colwill is making her second conference tournament appearance this weekend. She finished tied for 25^th last year at the event with a 238, just four strokes behind teammates Cabush and Emily Goldenstein to make it inside the top 20.

The third sophomore in the Lady Tigers' lineup will be Madison Thomas. Thomas has two top 20 and one top-15 performance so far this season. In Memphis' fourth place finish at the 3M Augusta Invitational, Thomas finished in a tie for 11^th with a 221. She won her first-ever college event, claiming the Memphis Invitational crown last season and has been a consistent member of Memphis' team entries since.

Emily Goldenstein will be the one junior the Lady Tigers are sending to Florida. Goldenstein has one top 10 and two top 20 finishes to her credit this year. This will be the third conference tournament appearance for Goldenstein. She finished tied for 20^th last season with a 234 on the same Hammock Beach Ocean Course.

Memphis finished sixth in last year's championships, having shared the opening day lead with a 309, and tied for fifth the year before. The Lady Tigers are seeded fifth again this season, coming in to the event with a Golfstat ranking of 68 in the country. UCF (25), SMU (38), Houston (44), and East Carolina (51) rank ahead of Memphis and are seeded ahead of them in the tournament.

Memphis will be paired with East Carolina and Tulane for the opening round on Sunday, with tee times starting at 8:50 a.m. off the first tee. For Monday's tee times, teams will be re-paired based off round one scores with tee times beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesday's final round times will also begin at 8 a.m. with the seven, eight and nine teams starting off of 10 at 8:30 and all other teams going off of one.

Live scoring from the event can be found on www.GolfStatResults.com.