Lady Tops Bring Course Experience to C-USA Championship

Joiner Interview (VIDEO) | Tyree Interview (VIDEO)

FORT MYERS, Fla — WKU Lady Topper Golf hopes experience is on its side heading into the 2019 Air Force Reserve Conference USA Women's Golf Championship.

Four of the five competing Lady Toppers have championship experience at the par-72, 6,194-yard Verandah Club, and this will be the third year on the course for juniors Mary Joiner and Abigail Smee.

"It's a really nice course," Joiner said. "It plays a little bit longer than some of the other ones we've played this year, but it's definitely scoreable. We just have to make smart decisions."

Teams will play 18 holes each of the next three days, with WKU slated to begin teeing off at 7:50 a.m. CT Monday.

Joiner, Smee, junior Bailey Tyree, sophomore Megan Clarke and freshman Lizzie Loy will represent the Lady Toppers, who are seeded ninth coming into the 12-team field.

Tyree and Clarke also have experience at the course in last season's C-USA Championship.

Clarke has the best returning result in the event after tying for 11th last year as a true freshman. Joiner tied for 17th.

The team's top finisher a year ago, Georgina Blackman, has graduated after a fourth-place finish in 2018 – the team's best individual conference performance in 20 seasons. Her 219 was the lowest conference tournament score ever by a Lady Topper.

The Lady Toppers placed seventh as a team last year at the C-USA Championship. They have four top-4 results this season, including a win at the Boston College Intercollegiate and a second-place effort at the Spring Break Shootout that they lost in a scorecard playoff.

"We've all been practicing really hard and preparing for the course we're about to play," Tyree said. "The overall team attitude, we're just saying, 'Let's try to do something different that we've never done before.' We're going into it positive and not worrying about other teams, trying to play our best golf."

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Players Mentioned

Georgina Blackman

Megan Clarke

Mary Joiner

Lizzie Loy

Abigail Smee

Bailey Tyree