2012 Golf Championships Start Friday

The 2012 Horizon League Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships begin Friday with play being held at the Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.

The Championships are a 54-hole event played over three days on the El Campeon Golf Course at Mission Inn.

On the women’s side five of the top seven finishers from last season return, including defending champion Michele Nash of Butler. Nash, now a two-time Horizon League Women’s Golfer of the Year winner after being announced as the 2012 winner on Thursday night, won last year’s tournament by two strokes. Also returning is last year’s third-place finisher Ariel Sparrow from Cleveland State, fifth-place finishers Erika Pfaender of Valparaiso and April Ohlendorf of Loyola and seventh-place finisher Sarah Heimlich from Youngstown State.

Butler is the automatic No. 1 seed for this year’s tournament due to winning last year’s championship. The Bulldogs are primed to repeat this season as they are the highest ranked Horizon League team in the golfstat.com rankings thanks to Nash and fellow All-League members Isabella Lambert and Jenna Peters. The rest of the seeds in the eight-team field are determined by golfstat.com’s rankings of all NCAA teams which puts Loyola at No. 2, Detroit at No. 3, Youngstown State at No. 4, Cleveland State at No. 5, Valparaiso at No. 6, Green Bay at No. 7 and UIC, in its first season of competition, as the No. 8 seed.

The women begin play Friday at 7:30 a.m. ET.

On the men’s side, last season’s co-medalist’s Michael Klaric and Andrew Bailey, both from Cleveland State, return as four of last season’s top-five finishers will be in the 2012 field. Also returning is third-place finisher Jordan Higgins and fifth-place finisher Scott Thompson both from Wright State.

The Vikings are the top-seed in the men’s tournament, followed by No. 2 seed Wright State and third-seed Detroit. Butler is the fourth-seed, Valparaiso the fifth and Loyola the sixth, while Green Bay (seventh) and Youngstown State (eighth) round out the field.

The men being play Friday at 10:00 a.m. ET.

The tournament’s final round is Sunday with the winning men’s and women’s team advancing to the NCAA Tournament.

HORIZON LEAGUE POSTSEASON AWARDS

Prior to the beginning of the tournament Friday morning, the 16 teams in the tournament gathered in the ballroom at the Mission Inn Resort and celebrated the 2012 regular season by giving out its yearly season-ending awards.

Butler’s Michele Nash was named Women’s Golfer of the Year, while Cleveland State’s Andrew Bailey was the Men’s Golfer of the Year. Nash had the highest average score (75.05) of any female Horizon League golfer in the regular season as she was the medalist in four tournaments this season. Bailey averaged 73.54 a round this season and his season was highlighted by winning the John Telich Sr. Classic.

Nash’s teammate Isabella Lambert was named the Women’s Newcomer of the Year. Lambert finished in the top-20 in 10 of the 11 tournaments she played in in her rookie campaign. Lucas Kim of Detroit was named the Men’s Newcomer of the Year after leading all newcomers with a low scoring average of 74.14 per round.

The women’s All-League team consisted of Nash, Lambert, Jenna Peters (Butler), Collette Hansen (Detroit), Lindsey Lammers (Detroit), Ann Vrdolyak (Loyola), Alexandra Perez (UIC) and Sarah Heimlich (Youngstown State).

The men’s All-League team entailed Bailey, Kim, Andrew Wegang (Butler), Michael Klaric (Cleveland State), Simon Reyers (Detroit), Chad Ebert (Green Bay), Alex Cusumano (Loyola) and Cory Fixari (Wright State).

The Women’s Coach of the Year was Butler’s Bill Mattingly, while Wright State’s Pete Samborsky was named the Men’s Coach of the Year.Women’s All-League (ties are not broken)
Isabella Lambert, Butler
Michele Nash, Butler
Jenna Peters, Butler
Collette Hansen, Detroit
Lindsey Lammers, Detroit
Ann Vrdolyak, Loyola
Alexandra Perez, UIC
Sarah Heimlich, Youngstown State

Women’s Player of the Year: Michele Nash, Butler
Women’s Newcomer of the Year: Isabella Lambert, Butler
Women’s Coach of the Year: Bill Mattingly, Butler

Men’s All-League (ties are not broken)
Andrew Wegeng, Butler
Andrew Bailey, Cleveland State
Michael Klaric, Cleveland State
Lucas Kim, Detroit
Simon Reyers, Detroit
Chad Ebert, Green Bay
Alex Cusumano, Loyola
Cody Fixari, Wright State

Men’s Player of the Year: Andrew Bailey, Cleveland State
Men’s Newcomer of the Year: Lucas Kim, Detroit
Men’s Coach of the Year: Pete Samborsky, Wright State