Feb. 10, 2012

After their season break, the Golden Gophers are set to begin their spring schedule at the UCF Challenge. The event runs from Feb. 12-14 at the RedTail Golf Club in Sorrento, Fla. Follow Golfstat’s live scoring here.

Banchalee Theinthong, Jackie Shepherd, Carmen Laguna, Sarinee Thitiratanakorn, and Aubrie Nelson will play for the Gophers in Sorrento. Theinthong owned a team-best stroke average of 75.25 in the fall season. Head coach Michele Redman said that she will mix up the lineup during the first few spring tournaments to see who is playing well.

“I’m really looking forward to watching these young ladies play this weekend,” Redman said.

Redman said that the Gophers worked a lot on their short game and on the mental aspects of the game during the season break. Over the spring season, she wants to see how her team has progressed in those areas.

“I’m not really looking at scores and rankings,” she said. “I want to see good attitudes, hard work, and improvement.”

The course: RedTail is a par-72 link-style course. It plays at 7,152 yards.

The field: Besides the Gophers and host UCF, the field consists of Auburn, Baylor, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Kansas, Kennesaw State, Kentucky, Memphis, Miami, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Texas, Texas-San Antonio, Tulane, and USF. Minnesota faced many of these opponents during the fall season.

Notes: Including the UCF Challenge, Minnesota will play in four events before the Big Ten Championships…the Gophers’ best team score of the fall was 911 (+47) at the Cougar Classic…their best 18-hole score was 301, which they recorded three times.