After having their program discontinued in February, the Florida Tech women’s golf team has made the postseason.
The Panthers, who were ranked fifth on the Women’s Golf Coaches Association Coaches Poll, will play in the South Regional of the 2019 NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championships. They’ll be the fourth seed in a bracket that features the following teams:
Barry University (FL)
Nova Southeastern University (FL)
Lynn University (FL)
Florida Tech (FL)
Saint Leo University (FL)
Limestone College (SC)
Florida Southern College (FL)
University of Tampa (FL)
Rollins College (FL)
Lee University (TN)
Flagler College (FL)
Anderson University (SC)
Lee University is hosting the South Region Tournament, which is from May 6-8 at the Cleveland Country Club in Cleveland, Tennessee. Teams will play 54 holes, with the top four from each super regional advancing to the championships.
The Panthers hope to make it to the NCAA Division II championships, which will be held May 14-18 at the PGA National Resort and Spa in West Palm Beach.
The Panthers face stiff competition in the regionals. Since 2000, Rollins has won six times, Nova Southeastern has won four times, Florida Southern has won three times, Lynn has won twice and Barry once.
The golfers know they’ll have to make this tournament run count as this is the last time they can take to the greens representing their university’s colors.
According to Florida Tech Athletics Director Bill Jurgens, the university discontinued women’s golf to focus its limited athletic resources across the remaining varsity sports.
“This was a very difficult decision for the university, given the great respect we all have for the hard work and dedication of our student-athletes and their coaches,” Florida Tech Athletics Director Bill Jurgens said in a news release. “The student-athletes affected by this decision are our priority. All scholarship-eligible student-athletes impacted by this reduction will have their athletic scholarships honored for the duration of their undergraduate enrollment at Florida Tech.”
In addition to cutting women’s golf, Florida Tech discontinued the men’s and women’s tennis.
“We are proud of all of our student-athletes, and will work with them through this transition,” Jurgens said.
According to Florida Today, the university considered “the state of available facilities, squad size and potential to be competitive.”
The last part, the potential to be competitive, is it odds with the recent success of the women’s golf team.
The women’s golf team had won three of their last four events, including the Women’s Panther Invitational – the final home tournament in program history.
They were also a dual threat, succeeding on the fairway and in the classroom.
At the Florida Tech Athletic Department’s 47th Athletic Awards Banquet, the women’s golf team won the Female Team GPA Award. They posted a cumulative 3.596 GPA, which put an end to women’s tennis seven-year run.
Senior Lucy Eaton was named the Female Athlete of the Year. Noelle Beijer, Megan Dennis, Alexis Dizinno, Hailey Ko, Marybeth McGuire, Paola Ortiz and Lauren Watson make up the rest of the roster, which is led by head coach Chris Saltmarsh.
William is the Managing Editor at FloridaInsider.com. His years of experience in journalism, broadcasting and multimedia include roles as a Writer and Web Producer. He graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Science and Communication.