Spotlight Shines On UC Irvine Invitational Presented by Kia
February 19, 2015 | Women's Golf
Irvine, Calif. -- UC Irvine will host one of the premier collegiate tournaments of the season, the UC Irvine Invitational Presented by Kia Monday and Tuesday (Feb. 23-24) at the Santa Ana Country Club.
UCI will partner with Kia for the third consecutive year in offering a sponsor's exemption to the Kia Classic to the medalist, making it the only event of its kind. The 2015 Kia Classic will be played March 23-29 at the Aviara Golf Club.
"This year's field is the best ever with nine players ranked in the top 30," UC Irvine head women's golf coach Julie Brooks beamed. "For some of the players it could be a once in a lifetime experience to play in an LPGA event; however the field is so good, many of these girls will be on the tour one day."
The first round begins Monday at 8:30 a.m. with a shotgun start followed by the second round. The final round will takle place on Tuesday at 7:45 a.m.
The tournament is free and opened to the public.
Live scoring will be provided by Golfstat.com
This year's tournament includes a stellar field with all but two teams in Golfstat's top 60, including three teams in the top five. The 2015 field is USC (2), Stanford (3), Washington (5), Pepperdine (19), Texas A&M (13), UNLV (17), San Diego State (24), UC Davis (30), Gonzaga (38), SMU (44), Texas Tech (52), Long Beach State and host UC Irvine.
Last year's winner, Mariah Stackhouse of Stanford will once again be playing in the event. Stackhouse fired a four-under par 212 (70-69-73) to capture medalist honors a year ago.
"As a college golfer who aspires to play on the LPGA Tour, I can't thank the tournament committee enough for providing the opportunity to play with the best women in the world," Stackhouse said. "Being able to experience a regular season event and to practice and play alongside the pros in their daily environment was a dream come true. "
Along with Stackhouse (16), other top ranked players competing in this year's event include Dana Finklestein (5) of UNLV, Doris Chen (8), Annie Park (10) and Kyung Kim (19) of USC, Marissa Chow of Pepperdine (12), Maddie Szeryk (26) and Marijosse Navarro (15) of Texas A&M, Eimi Koga (29) of Washington and Lauren Kim (30) from Stanford.
"We are thrilled to once again partner with Kia and Santa Ana Country Club," UC Irvine Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Mike Izzi said. "This partnership has resulted in one of the best tournaments in the country. The quality of teams and players competing this year is a tribute to that collaboration. It just keeps getting better every year and we appreciate their support. "
About Kia Motors America
Kia Motors America (KMA) is the marketing and distribution arm of Kia Motors Corporation based in Seoul, South Korea. KMA proudly serves as the "Official Automotive Partner" of the NBA and LPGA and set an all-time annual sales record in 2014, surpassing the 500,000 unit mark for the third consecutive year. KMA offers a complete line of vehicles, including the rear-drive K900** flagship sedan, Cadenza premium sedan, Sorento CUV, Soul urban passenger vehicle, Soul Electric Vehicle***, Sportage compact CUV, Optima midsize sedan, Optima Hybrid, the Forte compact sedan, Forte5 and Forte Koup, Rio and Rio 5-door subcompacts and the Sedona midsize multi-purpose vehicle, through a network of more than 765 dealers across the United States. Kia's U.S. manufacturing plant in West Point, Georgia, builds the Optima* and Sorento* and is responsible for the creation of more than 14,000 plant and supplier jobs.
* The Sorento and Optima GDI (EX, SX & Limited and certain LX Trims only) are assembled in the United States from U.S. and globally sourced parts.
