Cullowhee, N.C. – The Western Carolina women's golf team opens its 2022-23 schedule on Monday and Tuesday, traveling to Cincinnati, Ohio, for the Jennifer Duke Invitational hosted by the University of Cincinnati at the par-71, 6,075-yard Losantiville Country Club.
 
The three-round, 54-hole event features 8:45 a.m. shotgun starts both days with 36 holes of continuous play scheduled for Monday, Sept. 12 and the final round on Tuesday, Sept. 13. Live scoring of the event is available online at GolfStat.
 
In addition to the Catamounts and two squads representing the host Bearcats, the 10-team field includes golfers from Akron, Coastal Carolina, Dayton, Marshall, Northern Kentucky, Ohio, Western Kentucky, and Xavier. On Monday, the Catamounts are paired with golfers from Akron and Western Kentucky for the first 36 holes of competition.
 
Four of Western Carolina's scoring five – and five of the six golfers that are in competition in the opener – return from last year's squad. Senior Victoria Ladd, who was third on the squad in seasonal stroke average last year, leads WCU's scoring five into the opener. She is flanked by returning fifth-year senior Madison Isaacson and last year's scoring leader in sophomore Elizabeth Lohbauer as the No. 2 and 3 seeds, respectively. Australian-born true freshman Bri Mapanao earned a start as the fourth seed in her career debut with redshirt sophomore Kayleigh Baker rounding out WCU's lineup.
 
Sophomore striker Kaitlyn Wingnean, fourth in scoring for WCU last season, will play unattached and vie for the individual tournament crown.
 
"We are excited to be competing again," said WCU head coach Courtney Gunter. "We have many of our starters from last year in this lineup, but they haven't competed together since the conference championship last April. We are hoping to build on the momentum we had last year and continue to grow and improve throughout this season."
 
Following the season-opening event, the Catamount women's golf team returns to action in match play at the NC A&T Aggie Invitational in Greensboro Sept. 26-27. WCU finished as a runner-up as last year's event.
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount women's golf and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountWGolf).