Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Women's Golf Set to Host Inaugural Patriot League Championship
4/19/2013 8:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
April 19, 2013
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell is set to host the inaugural Patriot League Women's Golf Championship this weekend, and the Bison expect to be in contention for the title. The 54-hole tournament will consist of 36 holes on Saturday and 18 on Sunday at the Bucknell Golf Club. Live scoring will be available via Golfstat.
The Patriot League added women's golf as its 24th sponsored sport this year, and Bucknell, Holy Cross, Lehigh and Navy are competing in this inaugural season. The Patriot League Tournament format allows each team to start six players, with the top four scores counting toward the team total.
Bucknell and Holy Cross had both competed as associate members of the Big South Conference since 2003.
Bison head coach Kevin Jamieson will send out three juniors, ad sophomore and two freshmen this weekend. The junior trio of Bridget Wilcox, Kasha Scott and Lauren Bernard have all been key players since joining the program.
Wilcox has been Bucknell's top player in 2012-13 with a 79.6 scoring average in 19 competitive rounds. She carded a pair of 78s in a top-20 finish at Bucknell's spring event in Las Vegas on March 14-15. Back in the fall, Wilcox finished ninth with rounds of 76-77-78 at the Bucknell Invitational.
Scott's 1-under 71 in the second round of the Nittany Lion Invitational in September is Bucknell's best round of the year so far. She also has the team's low round of the spring, a closing 76 in Las Vegas.
Bernard will be competing in her first spring event after returning from a foot injury. Bernard was runner-up at the 2011 Big South Championship, finishing just one shot behind the winner. She went on to win the Philadelphia Amateur Championship that summer and has been one of Bucknell's most consistent players ever since. Her best round of this season is a 1-over 73 at Penn State.
Sophomore Emily Timmons is a bomber who has worked hard to refine the rest of her game, and she has scored fairly consistently in the low-80s for the Bison this spring. She has a posted a pair of career-best 80s in 2013, one coming at the tough Cougar Point course at Kiawah Island and the other coming two weeks ago at the UNCW Seahawk Classic.
Jen Lee and Meghan Garanich have both flashed their potential during their rookie seasons, and they will be looking to piece together three good rounds this weekend. Lee posted two scores in the 70s at the Bucknell Invitational in her first collegiate torunament, and later in the fall she opened with a terrific 2-over 74 at the MAC Preview at the Longaberger GC in Ohio. Garanich carded a career-best 77 on March 14 in Las Vegas.
Lehigh and Navy both competed at the Bucknell Invitational in the fall, and the Mountain Hawks finished one spot ahead of the Bison. Lehigh was sixth with a 54-hole score of 945, while Bucknell took seventh at 953. Navy, a first-year varsity program, finished 15th.
Tee times are slated to begin at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday, and at 8 a.m. on Sunday. The top five individual finishers will be awarded All-Patriot League honors.
