Women’s Golf Opens Fall Season at Blessings Collegiate

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Just seven months after its season was halted due to COVID-19, the Ole Miss women's golf team officially begins its fall season with the Blessings Collegiate Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The SEC-focused tournament will be held Oct. 5-7 and will air on the Golf Channel.

WHERE TO WATCH

The three-day tournament will be broadcast on the Golf Channel from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. CT during each day of play.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Monday, Oct. 5 – 18 holes (Rebels tee off at 11:27 a.m. CT)
Tuesday, Oct. 6 – 18 holes (Rebels tee off at 9:54 a.m. CT)
Wednesday, Oct. 7 – 18 Holes

THE LINEUP

Andrea Lignell (So.)
-- 2019-20 SEC All-Freshman Team
-- 72.20 stroke average last season
-- Fifth-ranked freshman in the SEC in terms of stroke average
-- One top-10 and three top-20 finishes during the 2019-20 campaign

Kennedy Swann (Sr.)
-- 2019-20 Second Team All-SEC
-- Using fifth-year of eligibility to return and pursue her MBA
-- 71.39 stroke average last season, fourth in the SEC
-- One top-five, six top-20 finishes last season
-- Finished fifth at 2020 U.S. Women's Amateur

Ellen Hume (Jr.)
-- Transfer from Charleston Southern
-- 73.00 stroke average in 2019-20
-- 2019-20 WGCA All-American Scholar
-- 2019 English Women's Amateur champion

Julia Johnson (Sr.)
-- 2019-20 Second Team All-American (WGCA)
-- 2019-20 Third Team All-American (Golfweek)
-- Led SEC with 70.72 stroke average in 2019-20
-- Recorded six top-20s and two top-10s last season
-- Been in lineup all 33 team tournaments since arriving on campus

Ellen Hutchinson-Kay (Jr.)
-- Posted career-low 73.67 stroke average last season
-- Tallied four rounds par-or-better, one in the 60s in 2019-20
-- Fired a career-low 4-under 68 in the first round of the Jim West Challenge
-- Six career top-20 finishes

THE FIELD

Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Missouri
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt

THE COURSE

The Blessings Golf Club stretches to over 6,100 yards and plays as a par 72. The course was originally designed by architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr. with a redesign recently completed by noted architect Kyle Phillips. In 2019, Blessings hosted both the NCAA Men's and Women's Golf Championships.

JOHNSON LOOKS TO BUILD ON ALL-AMERICAN SEASON

Julia Johnson looks to continue to etch her name into the Ole Miss record books after she led the SEC with a 70.72 stroke average, the lowest single-season stroke average in program history. Johnson finished inside the top-15 in every event played. She ended the 2019-20 season No. 22 in Golfstat's player rankings. Johnson led the Rebels on the leaderboard in three of the six events played, earning second team All-America honors from the Women's Golf Coaches Association. She tied an NCAA record for lowest individual round with an 11-under 61 at the Battle at the Beach.

SWANN SONG

Kennedy Swann, a second team All-SEC selection in 2019-20, returns for a fifth-year of eligibility due to the 2019-20 season being lost to the COVID-19 outbreak. Swann finished no worse than a tie for 17th all season, including an individual win at the Illini Women's Invitational at Medinah. Swann finished fourth in the conference in scoring (71.39), which was good for the second-lowest single-season stroke average in program history. She will use her fifth-year of eligibility to pursue her MBA.

BUILDING A POWERHOUSE

Kory Henkes took over the Ole Miss program in 2015 and has turned the Rebels into a top-tier program. Henkes has led the Rebels to two straight NCAA Championship berths and a No. 11 final ranking in the WGCA Coaches Poll last season. The Rebels were one of only two teams nationally to have four or more wins in 2019-20. Ole Miss also won its first SEC Championship in school history under Henke's guidance in 2019.

FALL SLATE

The Blessings Collegiate Invitational is one of three tournaments that the Rebels will compete in this fall and the first of two tourneys to be covered on the Golf Channel. Ole Miss will next head to Old Waverly Golf Club to compete in The Ally, Oct. 19-21. The Rebels will wrap up their fall season by competing in the East Lake Cup (Oct. 26-28) in Atlanta, Georgia. The prestigious tourney features three other top-ranked women's programs (Florida, South Carolina and Texas) and will be broadcast live on the Golf Channel.

FOLLOW THE REBELS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

For all Ole Miss women's golf latest news and information, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissWGolf, on Instagram at OleMissWGolf and on Facebook at Ole Miss Women's Golf. General athletic news can also be found at @OleMissSports on Twitter, Ole Miss Sports on Facebook, and OleMissAthletics on Instagram.

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Players Mentioned

Ellen Hume

Ellen Hutchinson-Kay

Julia Johnson

Andrea Lignell

Kennedy Swann

The University of Mississippi Athletics