RANCHO SANTA FE, Calif. – The nationally-ranked Vanderbilt women’s golf team will get its first taste of match-play competition Monday when it participates in the Lamkin Invitational in Southern California.
The Lamkin Invitational, formerly known as the San Diego State March Mayhem, will be Vanderbilt’s first regular-season appearance in California since competing in the Stanford University Intercollegiate in October 2015.
Seven teams ranked inside the top-50 nationally by Golfstat — No. 6 Vanderbilt, No. 31 Pepperdine, No. 33 San Jose State, No. 42 Texas Tech, No. 44 Augusta, No. 46 San Diego State and No. 47 California – are among 12 teams entered in the tournament, which will be played at the Farms Golf Club, a 6,318-yard layout 20 miles north of San Diego. San Diego State serves as the tournament sponsor.
Vanderbilt head coach Greg Allen accepted an invitational to the Lamkin Invitational partially because of its unique format. The tournament features an opening round by stroke play, followed by four rounds of match-play competition.
In recent years, match play has been added to decide the eventual Southeastern Conference and NCAA team champions. Allen hopes the match-play experience gained this week in California will benefit his team as they move toward the SEC Championships in mid-April.
“We put this tournament on the schedule for that reason, to give us match-play experience before the SECs,” Allen said. “Anything can happen in match play, so I’m anxious to see how we handle it.”
In 2018, the Commodores advanced to match-play rounds at the SEC Championships, eventually dropping a close 3-2 decision to eventual NCAA runner-up Alabama.
Zeng Leads Commodore Lineup
Courtney Zeng tops Allen’s lineup for the Lamkin. In her final year as a Commodore, Zeng is arguably in the top playing form of the collegiate career. A product of Orlando, Florida, Zeng is coming off her third top-10 individual finish of the season at the recent Darius Rucker Intercollegiate at Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Zeng will be joined by sophomore Morgan Baxendale, junior Abbey Carlson, freshman Auston Kim and sophomore Louise Yu in the Vanderbilt lineup.
Lamkin Invitational Format
All 12 teams entered will play 18 holes of stroke-play competition early Monday to determine the eight squads advancing to the match-play rounds. The first of four match-play rounds will be held Monday afternoon.
The first round will begin with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. local time.
Getting to Know the Course
The Farms Golf Club is one of the premier private courses in Southern California. Originally designed by Pete and Alice Dye, the club was renovated in 1999 by PGA Tour pro Tom Lehman and U.S. Amateur champion John Fought. The club membership includes Lehman, PGA Tour champion Phil Mickelson and former LPGA legend Annika Sorenstam.
Tournament Results
Results from the Lamkin Invitational will be posted at birdiefire.com.
