Tar Heels Open Spring Slate at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate

CHAPEL HILL - The North Carolina women's golf team heads into the 2019 spring season with a refreshed mindset after a fall season with eight individual top-25 finishes.

"I believe overall the team is in a better place than they were in the fall," head coach Jan Mann said. "Several of our players who didn't have a stellar fall season are performing a lot better and that is going to be very helpful to us."

The spring season starts this Sunday, Feb. 17, with the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate at the English Turn Golf & Country Club in New Orleans.

FULL-TEAM RECAP
Kelly Whaley and Jennifer Zhou both had excellent falls, finishing with sub-74 stroke averages. Whaley closed the fall season at 72.50, highlighted by a fourth place finish at the Mason Rudolph Championship at the Vanderbilt Legends Club, and a 10th place finish at the Landfall Tradition. Zhou shot 73.70 for the fall with a tied for 7th place performance at the Mason Rudolph Championship.

Brynn Walker, like Whaley, has started in every tournament as a Tar Heel. In the fall she averaged 75.90 strokes per round and a pair of 24th place finishes in the Cougar Classic and The Landfall Tradition.

Ava Bergner and Nicole Lu shined their brightest in the fall at the Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational at UNC Finley Golf Course. Over the course of the tournament, Bergner averaged 74.00 strokes per round, while Lu averaged 73.33. They respectively finished 34th and 23rd in the tournament.

Mariana Ocano had a solid fall season, competing as an individual for the Tar Heels, she carded a 69 in the first round of the Mason Rudolph Championship, which is the second lowest round of her collegiate career.

Plagued by tumultuous weather, the Tar Heels saw two tournaments get shortened and one tournament delayed. Once again, the team's fall highlight came at the Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational where Carolina tied for seventh at 20-over-par 886, after harsh weather took its toll on the course just days prior to the tournament.

Carolina saw a fall season with ups and downs, but the Tar Heels eight top-25 finishes shows promise for the spring 2019 season.

"We took a very close look at their fall stats and how they performed in the fall," Mann said. "Then we broke it down into how they were off the tee, approach shots, scrambling and their putting...we really took a close look at each one of them and have personalized their practice plans, so they are working specifically on the areas they need to improve upon. I definitely think we are seeing improvements across the board with each of them and hopefully it will show in tournaments."

SPRING PREVIEW
Turning the calendar to 2019, North Carolina begins the spring at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate, hosted by Tulane in New Orleans Feb. 17-19. Up next is the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate March 8-10 in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

During spring break, Carolina will host the Tar Heel Classic March 15-16 at Casa De Campo golf course in the Dominican Republic. The Tar Heels wrap up the regular season at the Bryan National Collegiate, hosted by Wake Forest March 29-31 in Brown Summit, North Carolina.A late addition to the spring season, Carolina will compete in the Brickyard Collegiate Day, hosted by Mercer April 8-9 in Macon, Georgia.

The postseason begins when the Tar Heels return to Greensboro's Sedgefield Country Club for the ACC Championships on April 18-20.

Following the ACC Championships, the NCAA regional tournaments will be hosted by Auburn, Washington, Michigan State and Oklahoma from May 6-8. The NCAA Championships will be held in Fayetteville, Arkansas at The Blessings Golf Club from May 17-22.

BUILDING ON SPRING 2018
Kelly Whaley and Clementina Rodriguez are the two seniors on the 2018-19 squad, juniors Brynn Walker, Mariana Ocano and sophomore Ava Bergner are Carolina's three returners who competed in last season's NCAA San Francisco Regional at TPC Harding Park. The Tar Heels finished just two shots out of the six teams that advanced to the NCAA Championship.

Freshmen Nicole Lu and Jennifer Zhou are this season's Tar Heel newcomers. In 2017, Lu won of the Gary Gilchrist Award and was named the Gary Gilchrist Golf Academy Sportswoman of the Year in 2016. Meanwhile, Zhou led Lake Mary Prep to two state titles ('14, '15) in addition to winning the 2017 Insperity Invitational AJGA Junior Championship.

Carolina also added Associate Head Coach Kristen Simpson to the staff during the offseason. Simpson joined the Carolina coaching staff after spending the past four years at Maryland as the assistant women's golf coach under Head Coach Diana Cantu. Last season she helped coach the Terrapins to a second place finish in the Big Ten Championships, their highest finish since joining the conference.

MAKING THE TURN
Senior Kelly Whaley paved the way for the Tar Heels in the 2017-18 season, leading the team in team in stroke average (73.24 – UNC record), rounds under par (8 – tied with Ava Bergner) and rounds in the 60s (4).

Whaley became the first Tar Heel ever to shoot all three rounds in the 60s for a tournament, doing so at the Briar's Creek Invitational (68-67-69), in which she went on to win. This was Whaley's second-career individual title, with the first also coming at the 2016 Cougar Classic. She became the first Tar Heel to win multiple tournament titles since Catherine O'Donnell (2009-12), and the title is the 49th all-time by a Tar Heel.

Now, the senior, who has competed in every tournament in her collegiate career, is headed into the final stretch with the Tar Heels one last time. With just a few tournaments remaining, Whaley stays grounded in her work ethics.

"Since it is your last season you have so many goals and expectations, because it is your last time, but it's all about staying in your routine," said Whaley. "Just taking it one day at a time and sticking to your routine, whether it is warming up and taking one shot at a time or doing meditation, I think that is the most important thing going into every event."

2019 WOMEN'S GOLF SPRING SCHEDULE
Feb. 17-19       Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate (New Orleans)
Mar. 8-10        Darius Rucker Intercollegiate (Hilton Head, S.C.)
Mar. 15-16      Tar Heel Classic (Casa De Campo, Dominican Republic)
Mar. 29-31      Bryan National Collegiate (Brown Summit, N.C.)
Apr. 18-20       ACC Championships (Greensboro, N.C.)
May 6-8           NCAA Regionals (Auburn, Ala., Cle Elum, Wash., East Lansing, Mich. or Norman, Okla.)
May 17-22       NCAA Championships (Fayetteville, Ark.)

Visit GoHeels.com for the complete schedule.

Stay up to date with Carolina Women's Golf by following the Tar Heels on Twitter and Instagram.

Tar Heels Open Spring Slate at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate

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Players Mentioned

Ava Bergner

Nicole Lu

Mariana Ocano

Clementina Rodriguez

Brynn Walker

Kelly Whaley

Jennifer Zhou

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