"We have a lot of quality events lined up that will allow us to see many top ranked opponents," Trew said. "I️ can say that in my time at FGCU that this is the strongest schedule we have ever had."
Trew enters her eighth season as head coach for the team.
Summer Updates:
Many members of the FGCU women's golf team have been busy competing in tournaments throughout the summer.
Rising senior Madeline Marck-Sherk tied for 50th with an 82-79-77---238 in the Women's Porter Cup June 13-15 in New York. She also competed in the Canadian Women's Amateur July 24-27, where she shot a 78-84. Fellow senior Kelsy Holbert tied for 10th in the Florida State Golf Association's (FSGA) Women's Amateur Stroke Play event with rounds of 71-76-74. She also tied for 51st with a 78-77 in the Florida Women's Open Aug. 10-12.
Ailsa Clark, a rising junior, competed in the FSGA Women's Amateur (72-68) and Stroke Play (76-75-74) events. In the Women's Amateur, she finished stroke play qualifying in fourth place, but was eliminated in the first round of match play. In the other event, she tied for 14th.
New Blood:
Two incoming freshmen and a transfer have joined the brigade: Laura Edmonds and Haley Yerxa (freshmen) and Lexie Flerlage.
Edmonds, a product out of Argentina and a recent graduate from Cypress Bay High School, was ranked as high as 1,261 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) and has several wins in the South Florida Junior PGA. Edmonds captured the South Florida Junior Open 14-18 Division championship, finished second in the South Florida Junior PGA Tour Championship, tied for fifth at the 2016 Optimist International, tied for eighth at the 2017 Public Doral, and played in the prestigious 2017 AJGA Annika Invitational.
"We are looking forward to her arrival on campus because I believe that Laura is going to come in and make an immediate impact in our program," Trew said. "She is capable of shooting par on a consistent basis and can go low when she gets on a hot streak."
"I discovered Laura this past year when checking some results from a few local events and had never seen her name before," Trew said. "I called some friends to see why I had never seen her at other events and they told me she just recently moved to Florida with her family from Argentina. I immediately reached out to her and went to watch her play. I was very impressed by what I saw. She was very consistent, didn't get into much trouble and handled herself very maturely on the golf course. We are very excited that she is joining our program this fall."
Yerxa finished second in the Championnat du Quebec premiers elans June 8-10 with a 75-74-73---222, and she came within two strokes of first. She then finished fourth in the Quebec Junior Girls Provincial Junior Championship July 8-12 with a 72-76-79-71---298. Following that, she won the OVGA City and District title July 16-17 with a 70-75 before an eighth-place finish in the AJGA Coca-Cola Junior Championship Aug. 6-9 with rounds of 69-82-76---227. In fact, her first-round score was the best among all players in the tournament.
Yerxa, a recruit from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and a graduate from Hillcrest High School won the Ottawa High School championship three of four years and was a three-time Ottawa Valley Golf Association (OVGA) match play champion. She finished top 10 in both the Quebec and Ontario Provincial championships in 2016 and 2017 while also being a member of her school's field hockey, volleyball, swim and soccer teams throughout her four years.
A four-time golf team MVP, Yerxa is also a two-time team MVP for her school's field hockey team, won the coaches award in swimming and was named her school's freshman athlete of the year.
"We are proud to announce the addition of Haley to the FGCU women's golf family," Trew said. "She has only been playing golf for about four years now and has shown a vast improvement over that time span. I am very confident that will continue over to her collegiate career."
Flerlage, a product from Venice, Florida, is coming to FGCU as a grad student with one year of eligibility remaining after graduating and transferring from Florida State.
As a Seminole, Flerlage played in four total matches, including two times in the Florida State Match-Up. Flerlage competed in nine rounds over three events during her time with the Seminoles. In the spring of 2017, she fired an opening round 73 in the Florida State Match-Up en route to a 237. In the same tournament in 2018, she produced a career-best performance with a 75-73-77 for a 225 (+9).
"We are very excited that Lexie has chosen to continue her golf career and graduate studies with us at FGCU," Trew said. "Even though she will only have one year with us, I believe she will have an impact on our program.
"Throughout the process of recruiting her, Lexie's coaches stressed what a tremendous teammate and hard worker she was for them. She will fit right in with our team culture and push everyone to be better."
Key Returners:
Along with Marck-Sherk, Holbert, and Clark, other key Returners for the Eagles include junior Kate Williamson and sophomore Natalia Nassar.
Williamson, a product of Deerfield Beach, Florida, is coming off of another solid season producing a 77.16 stroke average, 18th in program history. Her 59 birdies ranks third all-time, while her 3.24 par-3 scoring average is 12th-best. Williamson's best finish came in the Morehead State Citrus Classic where she claimed a tie for second place with final score of 148 (74-74). As a result, Williamson was named a WGCA Scholar All-American for the second straight year.
Nassar, a product of Bucaramanga, Colombia, is coming off of a solid freshman performance where she was named A-SUN Freshman Golfer of the Year and a member of the A-SUN All-Freshman Team. Two of Nassar's performances stood out in the record book: her 71 (-1) in the MSU Citrus Classic opening round is tied for the 20th-best round in program history while her 223 (+7) in the Johnie Imes Invitational is tied for the 27th-best 54-hole score all-time.
The slate begins with the Golfweek Program Challenge in Pawley's Island, S.C. Sept. 9-11, which is an event the Eagles were forced to miss last year due to Hurricane Irma. Among four fall events, the final two include a pair of familiar tournaments – the Johnie Imes Invitational hosted by Missouri (Oct. 1-3) and the 41st Annual Pat Bradley Invitational hosted by FIU (Oct. 21-23).
"We should be very comfortable with those courses," Trew said. "Last year, we were unable to attend the Golfweek event because of Irma, so we are excited to head there this year and compete alongside our men's program."
Two key additions to the schedule will feature especially strong competition: the Lady Paladin Invitational in Greenville, S.C. Sept. 21-23 and the Brickyard Collegiate in Macon, Ga. on April 8-9.
In the Lady Paladin tournament, hosted by Furman University, the Eagles will compete in a field that features nine of 16 teams ranked within last year's final GolfStat top 90. Meanwhile, the Brickyard Collegiate is still adding teams, but the Mercer University-hosted field currently features eight teams within the top 80.
"The Lady Paladin event features an unbelievable field," Trew said. If we can play well in these events, particularly Furman and Mercer, and get some key wins that will help our rankings. With the quality fields we will see, it will only help prepare us more to compete for our first A-SUN championship."
Outside of the Brickyard Collegiate, the Green and Blue will round out the spring schedule with familiar events – the Mid-American Match Play Challenge Feb. 4-5, the Amelia Island Collegiate Feb. 18-19, the Spring Break Shootout March 11-12 and the John Kirk Panther Invitational March 31-April 2.
"In the spring, I look for us to have some strong outings as most of the tournaments are repeat events," Trew said. "The Brickyard will be the lone new tournament, which yields another very strong field. With our conference tournament being held in the state of Georgia we will get some good practice between Georgia State and Mercer to come out very prepared to make a run at the A-SUN title."
Last year, the Eagles produced top-5 finishes in the Pat Bradley Invitational (5th), the Mid-American Match Play Challenge (2nd), the Amelia Island Collegiate (4th), the Spring Break Shootout (3rd) and the A-SUN Championship (T-4th).
The A-SUN Championship is slated for April 21-23 at Chateau Elan's Legends Course in Braselton, Ga. NCAA regional play follows from May 6-8 at various sites with the NCAA Championship set for May 17-22 at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.
This year, I will be attempting to watch them play in Lakewood Ranch for the Pat Bradley Invitational since I live in the Bradenton area.
2018-19 Schedule:
Sept. 9-11 – Golfweek Program Challenge in Pawley's Island, S.C.
Sept. 21-23 – Lady Paladin Invitational in Greenville, S.C. (Hosted by Furman University)
Oct. 1-3 – Johnie Imes Invitational in Columbia, Mo. (Hosted by Missouri)
Oct. 21-23 – 41st Annual Pat Bradley Invitational in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. (Hosted by FIU)
Feb. 4-5 – Mid-American Match Play Challenge in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. (Hosted by Bowling Green)
Feb. 18-19 – Amelia Island Collegiate in Amelia Island, Fla. (Hosted by JU)
March 11-12 – Spring Break Shootout in Dade City, Fla. (Hosted by Western Kentucky)
March 31-April 2 – John Kirk Panther Invitational in Statesboro, Ga. (Hosted by Georgia State)
April 8-9 – Brickyard Collegiate in Macon, Ga. (Hosted by Mercer)
April 21-23 – A-SUN Championship in Braselton, Ga.
May 6-8 – NCAA Regionals at regional sites
May 17-22 – NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.
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