Blue Raiders Prepare for Mason Rudolph Invitational

Friday, September 18

Nashville, TN - Legends Club South

Middle Tennessee

Mason Rudolph Invitational

Photo by: Kaitlyn Hungerford/MT Athletic Communications

9/17/2015 2:18:00 PM | Women's Golf

By: @MTAthletics

FRANKLIN, Tenn. – After starting the season with a strong third-place showing at the Marilynn Smith Invitational, the Blue Raiders will set their sights on the talented field at the Mason Rudolph Invitational.

The tournament, hosted by Vanderbilt at the Legends Club South Course, features five teams who finished last season in the Top 15. Every team in the field finished in the Top 66 last year, making it an extremely talented slate top to bottom.

"It's exciting to get invited to this tournament, being just 45 minutes down the road," Head Coach Chris Adams said. "Vanderbilt hosts this tournament pretty much every year and it's always one of the top fields in the country. We're going to be facing a lot of teams in the Top 30 or 40 and even a couple in the Top 10. We want to see where we stand against the best teams in the country."

Despite being so close to the host course, this is the first time Middle Tennessee has competed in the Mason Rudolph Invitational, and it will be a tough test as the field is similar in strength to that of an NCAA Regional.

"This is what we're after. We want to measure ourselves against the best to prepare us for a conference run and a regional bid towards the end of the year. Although it's early in the year and there are a lot of golf tournaments between now and conference, this will really tell us where we're at as a team."

The Blue Raiders are taking five golfers to Franklin on Sept. 18-20. Due to their performance at the Marilynn Smith Invitational, Avery George (-1, 215), Samantha Gotcher (+5, 221) and Hanley Long (+5, 221) will travel with the team again. Seniors Emily Miller and Maddie Denton locked down the final two spots in this week's qualifying rounds.

"Having those two seniors in this lineup will help us a lot. I like our chances because these girls aren't afraid of those teams and neither am I. We know we can play with just about anybody in the country we just have to prove it in an event like this."

After a Thursday practice round the Blue Raiders will tee off at the end of the field on Friday alongside Yale and individuals from Virginia, Vanderbilt and South Carolina. Denton will tee off first for the Blue Raiders at 9:35 a.m., followed by Miller, Long and Gotcher. George, the reigning C-USA Golfer of the Week, will tee off last for Middle Tennessee at 10:11 a.m.

Round two and three tee times will be set based on the team standings following the previous rounds, and will begin at 8:00 a.m. Saturday and 7:30 a.m. Sunday. Live scoring will be available at www.birdiefire.com.