Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina women's golf competes in its penultimate event of the regular season this Saturday through Monday at the 54th annual Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, hosted by the University of Georgia at their par-72, 6,217-yard home course in Athens, Ga. It's WCU's first-ever trip to the prestigious spring event.
 
The tournament opens on Saturday morning with tee times off both the front and back nine, beginning at 8:30 a.m. on the first tee and at 8:32 a.m. on the 10th tee. The event continues with tee times based on the standings on Sunday, followed by an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start on Monday.
 
Live scoring for each round is available online through the Scoreboard app, powered by Clippd.
 
In addition to WCU and the host Bulldogs, who are coached by former Catamount women's golfer Erika Danford Brennan, the 16-team field includes golfers from Alabama, Florida Gulf Coast, High Point, Indiana, Jacksonville State, James Madison, Kennesaw State, Old Dominion, Penn State, Queens University, Rutgers, South Alabama, Toledo, and Western Kentucky. The University of South Carolina is also sending individuals to vie for the medalist honors.
 
Western Carolina opens competition on the front nine on Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m., paired with golfers from Jacksonville State and individual competitors.
 
The Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic remains one of the oldest sporting events in all of women's intercollegiate athletics. The tournament began in 1973 as the Georgia Invitational before becoming the Women's Southern Intercollegiate from 1977-94. In 1995, the tournament was renamed in honor of Liz Murphey, UGA's Hall of Fame golf coach and long-time Senior Woman Administrator (1978-96), who was a leading figure in the evolution and development of women's intercollegiate athletics both on the national level and at the University of Georgia.
 
Murphey was the first-ever Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) National Coach of the Year in 1984, a charter member of the WGCA's Hall of Fame, won the Gladys Palmer Meritorious Service Award in 1996, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Collegiate Women's Athletic Administrators in 2003. Murphey, who passed away in 2005, was inducted into the State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame posthumously in 2017.
 
Back in action for the first time since the Low Country Intercollegiate in early March, Western Carolina's scoring five is led by sophomore transfer Elsa Maren Steinarsdôttir as the No. 1 seed, flanked by graduate transfer EC Niebauer. Steinarsdôttir leads WCU this season, ranked 23rd in the SoCon with a scoring average of 76.91, and boasts a pair of sixth-place ties to lead the Catamounts.
 
Two-sport standout senior Sadler Miller, who earned SoCon Track & Field Athlete of the Week plaudits in the high jump last week, goes off as the third seed, followed by sophomores Annalee Caveney and Emily Rosenschein.
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount women's golf and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports; fb.com/catamountwgolf), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts; @catamountwgolf), and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountWGolf).