Local Sports
Harder Hall Invite tees off today
Mark Pinson | Highlands Today
Published: January 3, 2013
SEBRING - Some of the top women amateur golfers in the world tee off today in the 58th Harder Hall Invitational.Published: January 3, 2013
Charley Hull, a talented teenager from England and the defending champion, is not in the field, but 2011 champion Ashleigh Albrecht and 2010 winner Kyle Roig will compete for the prestigious title over the tight and demanding Harder Hall Country Club course.
Albrecht is a member of the University of Kentucky women's golf team, and the talented senior shot a course-record 63 en route to finishing first in 2011 with a 10-under total of 278.
Albrecht earned four top-10 finishes for the Wildcats during the fall season and is one of the favorites to win the four-day tournament.
Roig, who defeated LPGA phenom Alexis Thompson in a playoff for her title in 2010, graduated from Plantation American Heritage High School and is a sophomore on the UCLA women's golf team.
Roig was selected to play for her native Puerto Rico in the 2012 World Amateur Team Championship.
Along with players from across America, the tournament has its usual international flair with players from Britain, Canada, China, Colombia, Mexico and Scotland in the stellar field.
Martha Leach won the Women's U.S. Mid-Amateur championship in 2010 and Diane Lang won the Women's U.S. Senior title. There is also a large contingent from Sterling University in Scotland.
"We have a strong field for this year's tournament," said Harder Hall Invitational chairman Carol Semple Thompson. "There are 37 players with scratch handicaps, but most of them aren't well known."
The mother and daughter duo of Janice Nagle and Jaime Branch are in the field and Branch had a hole-in-one on hole No. 16. Local golfer Gail Brown had an ace on hole No. 9.
There are several local players in the field, including Savana Fisher, Kendall Griffin, Paige Moffat and Jude Stewart, along with Erin Fitzpatrick from Wauchula.
The tournament tees off today and concludes on Sunday.
"It should be a great four days of golf and the weather looks like it's going to be good," Semple Thompson said.
There is no admission fee and spectators are invited to come out and watch some top-flight action as the women battle for the coveted Harder Hall title.
mpinson@highlandstoday.com
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