Women's Golf Ready For NGI Debut

Golfweek National Golf Invitational
Ak-Chin Southern Dunes | Maricopa, Ariz.
The UNT women's golf has earned its fifth straight postseason appearance - this time playing in the National Golf Invitational, presented by Golfweek. The event, which is similar to the NIT in college basketball, is in its third iteration, but this will mark UNT's first appearance after the Mean Green had qualified for the past four NCAA tournaments.

THE EVENT: Ak-Chin Southern Dunes will play as a par-72 course at 6,295 yards. The teams will play 18 holes per day, beginning on Friday and will play the final 18 holes during Sunday's final round. There will be tee times off the first hole every day beginning at 9 a.m.

THE FIELD: There are 10 teams participating in the tournament: Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Oral Roberts, Mercer, Rutgers, Santa Clara, Seattle, UNCG, UNCW and UNT. The Mean Green enter the event as the highest ranked team in the field at 71st. Rutgers is the defending champion.

REPRESENTING UNT: Competing for the Mean Green will be Mason Lewis, Malisone Chanthapanya, Bouquet Subsomboon, Kat Anglett and Mallorie Luitwieler. Shreya Pal will miss the first day of play to walk at UNT's graduation but will be the alternate, which means she can be subbed in freely after the first round.

RESULTS: Live scoring and final results will be posted on Golfstat. A full recap will be posted on MeanGreenSports.com at the end of each day.

AKERS SAYS: "We are excited to have another opportunity at a championship this year," head coach Michael Akers said. "The ladies have a done a good job of preparing for finals while trying to keep their golf games sharp. We are thankful to the professors who helped the team to complete their final exams before we depart. The ladies should be stress-free when we step on the airplane."

"It will be important to get used to course conditions on Wednesday afternoon and during the practice round on Thursday. Multiple people have told me the course plays hard and fast. We haven't seen those conditions recently due to the weather in DFW. We will also be prepared for hot weather. The coaches' cart will be stocked with water and electrolytes."

HELLO SKY HARBOR: The Phoenix area has been kind to the Mean Green in the past. In 2021, after qualifying for the NCAA Regional in Baton Rouge, the team never hit a ball as the event was rained out and the top six seeds automatically advanced to nationals. That led to a controversy in women's college golf and garnered national headlines, as Barstool Sports organized a Let Them Play Classic just 18 miles to the north of Maricopa, which the Mean Green won. To make it even sweeter, Audrey Tan won the individual championship that day for UNT.

MOVING UP: UNT has made significant strides since Akers took over nine 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 four straight NCAA Regionals, which is the longest active streak for an AAC team.

STATE-OF-THE-ART FACILITY: The Mean Green golf programs are thrilled to have the new 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.

Calendar

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Players Mentioned

Malisone Chanthapanya

Mason Lewis

Mallorie Luitwieler

Shreya Pal

Bouquet Subsomboon

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