ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women’s golf team begins its 2021 spring campaign this week at the Kingsmill Intercollegiate hosted by William & Mary. Competition on Monday and Tuesday begins at 8:30 a.m. with a shotgun starts both days.
The tournament is set to take place on the River Course at the Kingsmill Resort and the event will feature 36 holes on Monday followed by 18 holes on Tuesday. The River Course is a par-72, 6,057-yard course and the third round of the tournament will be played on a 5,948-yard layout. The River Course is also the home course of the LPGA Pure Silk Championship.
Joining Navy at the tournament is Delaware, Delaware State, Longwood, Mount St. Mary’s, Presbyterian, Radford, Richmond, St. Francis, Towson, Washington & Lee and host William & Mary.
This is set to be Navy’s first tournament as a team in over a year as its last event was completed on March 3, 2020, when the Midshipmen finished 21st out of 53 teams at the Kiawah Island Classic last spring. In the fall, the Midshipmen had a tune-up for the spring season where Jacqueline Cherry, Mara Hirtle, Stephanie Lee, Christine McDonnell and Tori Smith took part in the Bidermann Invitational.
Navy’s quintet that competed during the fall is also set to make up the Midshipmen’s lineup during the spring season opener. McDonnell – who is the lone senior on this year’s team – leads the squad into the weekend as she has compiled a 75.7 career average during her first three seasons and she finished her junior season with a 75.3 average over 13 rounds. McDonnell has the best career average in program history over 59 rounds.
Smith has played 21 rounds in her first two years at Navy where she has posted an average of 78.3, which included her low round of even-par 72 at the Delaware Invitational last season. Cherry has an 83.1 average in 17 rounds for the Midshipmen and she has notched career-low rounds of 77 in each of the first two seasons. The pair of Hirtle and Lee are set to make their first appearances in Navy’s lineup this weekend during their freshmen campaigns.
This is Navy’s first appearance at the Kingsmill Intercollegiate, but the Midshipmen did compete at Kingsmill Resort during the 2018-19 season when they took part in the William & Mary Fall Invitational. At the event in 2018, Navy finished seventh overall with a 55-over par 919 to start the campaign.
After the season opener to start this week, the Midshipmen will host the Navy Spring Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the Naval Academy Golf Club.