Season Preview: 2018-19 Michigan Women's Golf
9/11/2018 3:28:00 PM | Women's Golf
» Michigan will have a mixed roster with four veteran players and three newcomers.
» Lone senior Elodie Van Dievoet will be looked to guide U-M in her final season. She has led U-M in scoring the last two seasons and set the program record as a sophomore (73.09).
» Michigan will be looking to return to the NCAA postseason after missing out last season. U-M had made back-to-back NCAA regional appearances and advanced to back-to-back NCAA Finals in 2016 and 2017.
» The Wolverines will play a balanced regular-season schedule with four fall tournaments and five spring events before heading to the Big Ten Championships.
The 2018-19 University of Michigan women's golf team begins sixth season under head coach Jan Dowling and is looking to earn its third NCAA Finals appearance in the last four years. The Wolverines will open the season Sunday through Tuesday (Sept. 16-18) hosting the East & West Match Play Challenge at Radrick Farms Golf Course.
"There is a lot of excitement as a new season is about to begin. We have three freshmen, all who have an opportunity to have a positive impact our program right away. Additionally, we have a very strong group of returners, with Elodie (Van Dievoet) and Ashley (Kim) leading the way. With any new group of players, our job is to help our freshmen settle into life at Michigan and embrace our team culture and big-picture goals. Our tournament schedule this year is simply awesome." -- U-M coach Jan Dowling
Wolverine Bites
• Michigan lost three seniors from a year ago -- Emily White, Megan Kim and Kathy Lim. The trio helped U-M regain a spot among the nation's elite with back-to-back trips to the NCAA Finals in 2016 and 2017.
• Elodie Van Dievoet is U-M's lone senior. She has started 27 of 28 career events and became U-M's first All-American and first Wolverine to capture the Big Ten individual title in 2017. She holds the program's all-time single-season scoring record at 73.09 (2016-17) and is on pace to set the career scoring record.
• Van Dievoet and Ashley Kim were two of three Wolverines to start every event last season; Van Dievoet has started her last 24 straight tournaments.
• An Interesting note about Ashley Kim's career-low 66 (-6) last season at the Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational was that her older sister, Megan (2015-18), is the only other Wolverine in program history to card a 66 in an event. The elder Kim fired hers in the first round in the 2015 East & West Match Play stroke-play qualifier.
• This summer, U-M coach Jan Dowling was an assistant coach for Team International at the 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup at Evian Resort Golf Club in southeastern France. In a Ryder Cup-style tournament co-founded by Arnold Palmer and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA), the event featured top university/college golfers and matched the United States against an International team.
Roster Breakdown
"Our team is young, but extremely experienced, which is unique. With only three upperclassmen, we will be leaning on them for consistency and setting the team culture. Elodie (Van Dievoet) has been our on-course leader, and I know she is so excited to play for Michigan one last season. She loves golf and loves to compete for our team, and that energy is contagious. With that said, Ashley (Kim) has a competitive nature and leadership style that will really help our freshmen settle in. Lastly, our freshmen have so much tournament experience they are bringing to our program. Ashley (Lau) is the most decorated freshmen to sign an NLI for program history. Sophia (Trombetta) has a great athletic background and love for the game that will also be contagious. Everyone will work hard to get this group working together very quickly, and we are so excited to get started together as a team."Â -- U-M coach Jan Dowling
• In her first season with the Wolverines Ashley Kim showed she belonged. She started all nine events and by just a single shot, she was second on the Wolverines with a 75.17 per-round average. She led U-M in four events, and highlighted her season posting a U-M season- and career-best 66 (-6) -- tying the second-lowest round in program history -- in the second round of the Ruth's Chris Invitational, where she also tallied a career-best 218.
• For a second straight year Elodie Van Dievoet led U-M in scoring with a 75.13 per-round average. She had three top-20 finishes and led the Wolverines in two events -- including the Big Ten Championships (T19th).
• Hannah Ghelfi made big strides in her second season, starting five of the last six events for the Wolverines as well as getting the nod for her first Big Ten Championships. She averaged 77.31 per-round average and tied her career low with a 73 three times -- in the second rounds of the Moon Golf Invitational (Feb. 19-20) and Meadow Club Intercollegiate (March 5-6) and the first round of the Evans Derby Experience (March 18-20).
• Alisa Snyder closed her second season playing the in final five tournaments and starting three of her six total events. Setting a career best for scoring average (76.19) she carded a season-low 71 (-1) in the second round of the Big Ten Championships and tallied a career-best 149 36-hole tournament total at the East & West Match Play stroke play qualifier.
• Michigan welcomes three newcomers -- Sophia Trombetta, Ashley Lau and Jacqueline Young. Trombetta is a two-time OHSAA All-Ohio Division II first team (2016, '17) selection and with her medalist runner-up finish (68-74/142), she helped Independence High Sschool to its first OSHAA Division II state title (2017). Hailing from Malaysia, Lau prepped at Hills International -- the same school current Wolverine men's golfer Chalie Pilon attended. She is the highest-ranked international player to commit to U-M. Coming to U-M from Singapore, Young has competed in several national events throughout southeast Asia and was a member of the Singapore Golf Association Elite Squad.
2018-19 Schedule
• The Wolverines begin their season hosting the East & West Match Play Challenge (Sept. 16-18) at U-M's Radrick Farms Golf Course. The three-day event, which rotates host sites with Wisconsin, is set up with 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying before two days of a championship and consolation match play. The intent is to get an early feel for the NCAA Championships format.
• Following the East & West, U-M closes its fall season with three October events starting with Northwestern's Windy City Classic (Oct. 1-2) at the Westmoreland Country Club in Wilmette, Illinois. Returning from Chicago, the Maize and Blue will close with two North Carolina events. First will be UNC's Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational (Oct. 12-14) at the Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, followed with UNC Wilmington's Landfall Tradition (Oct. 26-28) nearly 10 days later.
• Following the winter training break, U-M begins its spring season heading to Louisville's Moon Golf Invitational (Feb. 18-19) at the Duran Golf Club in Melbourne, Florida, for a second straight year. The Wolverines will sandwich a pair of Arizona events around their spring break trip, starting with Wisconsin's Westbrook Spring Invitational (Feb. 24-25) in Phoenix before closing with Arizona's Wildcat Invitational (March 11-12) in Tucson.
• The spring season closes with UNC Greensboro's Bryan National Collegiate (March 29-31) at the Bryan Park Golf Course and Ohio State's Lady Buckeye Invitational (April 13-14) at the Scarlet Course.
• The postseason will begin with the Big Ten Championships (April 19-21), once again at the TPC's River Bend in Maineville, Ohio. A few weeks later, the NCAA Regional (May 6-8) begins with four sites -- Michigan State, Oklahoma, Auburn and Washington
• The 2019 NCAA Finals will be held at the Blessings Golf Club (May 17-22). Hosted by Arkansas and the NCAA, the qualifying teams will play 54 holes of stroke play before the first team cut. Following a final 18 holes to determine the individual champion, the top eight teams will advance to match play to compete for the national title.
Players Mentioned
