Golf Teams Set For Unique Blessings Collegiate

Blessings Collegiate Invitational
Blessings Golf Club | Fayetteville, AR
The UNT men's and women's golf teams will play in a unique event that features men's and women's teams playing for separate trophies as well as a combined score winner in an event that will be nationally televised each day on Golf Channel.

THE EVENT: Blessings Golf Club will play at 7,720 yards, and will be a par-72 course for the men's tournament. The women's event will also be par-72 and the course will play at 6,503 yards. The three-day event begins Monday and runs through Wednesday. The teams will play 18 holes per day with split tee times and each team will play as a fivesome, which creates a unique environment. The event will be televised live on Golf Channel on all three days from 3:30-6:30 p.m.

THE FIELD: There are 10 men's teams and 10 women's teams participating in the tournament (rankings are from Golfweek): No. 11 (M)/No. 3 (W) Arkansas, Arkansas B-team, No. 9 (W) Clemson, No. 28 (W) Kentucky, No. 42 (W) Minnesota, No. 20 (M)/No. 29 (W) Mississippi State, NC State, No. 5 (W) South Carolina, No. 38 (W) UNT and No. 3 (M) Washington. There are three top-10 women's teams (Arkansas, South Carolina and Clemson) and one top-10 men's team (Washington) in the field.

REPRESENTING UNT: Competing for the Mean Green on the men's side will be Diego Prone, Tucker Allen, Cody Winkler, Dawson Meek and Preston Holmes. On the women's side, UNT will be represented by Shreya Pal, Ellie Roth, Bouquet Subsomboon, Emilie Ricaud and Mason Lewis.

RESULTS: Live results will be posted on Golfstat (men's / women's). Full recaps from each day of competition will be posted on MeanGreenSports.com at the end of each round.

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR: The Mean Green feature seven international players this year. Rafael Estrada (Mexico), Nikhil Gopal (South Africa), Harry Lord (England), Diego Prone (Argentina), Simon Roessler (Chile), Alvaro Roldos (Spain) and Philippe Thorin (Ecuador) round out the international players. Meanwhile, four players (Tucker Allen, Preston Holmes, Key Coker and Cody Winkler) are native Texans. On the women's side, there are five international players: Katharina Anglett (Germany), Shreya Pal (India), Emilie Ricaud (New Caledonia), Bouquet Subsomboon (Thailand) and Sakura Sugiyama (Australia). Four players (Chandler Browning, Mason Lewis, Mallorie Luitwieler and Ellie Roth) hail from the Lone Star State.

AKERS SAYS: "We are thrilled for the opportunity to play at the Blessings next week. Obviously we are used to playing against top teams like we will face there, but the caveat of TV coverage is new for us. All five of our players will also be paired together which is unusual. We did that during COVID a few times so I will point out everyone needs to stay positive and keep good body language throughout the round. The ladies can really feed off each other and hopefully help us to go low. Our men's team is also playing, which is cool. That component of the event is unique and will be fun. Both teams have a great opportunity to gain national exposure via the Golf Channel."

CALCATERA SAYS: "This is a great opportunity for our team, being able to play along side our women's team with Coach Akers just adds to how special this tournament is," head men's coach Luke Calcatera said. "Playing on the Golf Channel just shows the publicity and opportunities provided by playing golf at UNT. I am really proud of the work we have put in to prepare for this tournament and excited to get started on Monday."

MOVING UP: UNT's women have made significant strides since Akers took over eight years ago. The Mean Green were ranked No. 201 following the 2015-16 season, and since Akers arrived in Denton, UNT has soared more than 150 spots from that time. The Mean Green are now consistently ranked in the top 50 nationally and have qualified for three straight NCAA Regionals on the heels of three straight conference championships. They entered the Golfweek poll at No. 38 with the official NCAA Spikemark rankings not set to debut until Oct. 15.

UP NEXT: UNT's women will return to action Oct. 23, in a match against FIU at Southern Hills in Brooksville, Florida, which will host the AAC Championship in April. The men will be in action on Oct. 8-10, at The Carolina Cup in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Mean Green golf programs are thrilled to have the Bruzzy's UNT Golf Practice Facility, which is a $3 million on-campus facility that features state-of-the-art technology, such as TrackMan, swing catalysts, indoor hitting bays, a short-game area and a PuttView indoor putting green.

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Players Mentioned

Tucker Allen

Katharina Anglett

Chandler Browning

Key Coker

Rafael Estrada

Nikhil Gopal

Preston Holmes

Mason Lewis

Harry Lord

Mallorie Luitwieler

Dawson Meek

Shreya Pal

Diego Prone

Emilie Ricaud

Simon Roessler

Alvaro Roldos

Ellie Roth

Bouquet Subsomboon

Sakura Sugiyama

Philippe Thorin

Cody Winkler

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