Women's Golf Competes at The Tradition This Weekend

Carolina women's golf competes for the fourth and final time in the fall semester when the Tar Heels travel to Wilmington October 29-31 for The Landfall Tradition hosted by UNCW.

The Country Club of Landfall's Pete Dye's course, located on the Intracoastal Highway near Wrightsville Beach, is the site of this weekend's golf. Admission to the tournament is free. Fans should enter Landfall via the Eastwood Road entrance.

Teams competing in The Tradition include UNC, UCF, Clemson, Florida State, Furman, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, NC State, UNCW, Penn State, Purdue, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

Golfstat ranks the Tar Heels No. 39 in the nation. The Tradition field includes seven top-25 teams, including four of the top 10 – No. 4 Virginia, No. 6 South Carolina, No. 7 Wake Forest and No. 9 Texas.

Juniors Kayla Smith and Krista Junkkari lead the Tar Heels. Smith, a junior from Burlington, N.C., is ranked 59^th and Junkkari, a junior from Finland, is No. 61 in the nation.

Junkkari has the team's lowest stroke average through three tournaments this season at 72.00. That includes a school-record 65 in the first round of the Cougar Classic, where she finished second.

Smith is coming off a career-best eighth-place performance at the Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational. She is second in stroke average at 72.11.

Sophomores Crista Izuzquiza and Natalia Aseguinolaza and freshman Stephany Kim are also starting for UNC at The Tradition, and junior Aleksa Golde will compete as an individual entry.

Carolina has tied for fifth at the Cougar Classic and placed ninth at both the Blessings and Tar Heel Invitationals in its previous starts this season.

Following The Tradition, UNC is off until January when it plays Michigan State in match play in Pompano Beach, Fla.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Natalia Aseguinolaza

Crista Izuzquiza

Krista Junkkari

Stephany Kim

Kayla Smith