Women's Golf Hosts Fossum Invitational This Weekend
9/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Sept. 23, 2010
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Coach Slobodnik-Stoll | Caroline Powers | Christine Meier
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's golf team hosts its lone home tournament of the season, the 27th annual Mary Fossum Invitational, this weekend (Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 25-26) at Forest Akers West Golf Course. The Spartans have won their home tournament five straight years, with victories in the 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009 Mary Fossum Invitationals, and the 2006 Lady Northern Invitational. Overall, MSU has won its home tournament six out of the last seven years.
"We only have the opportunity to play at home once a year, so it makes it very special for us," said MSU head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll. "It's fun because we have a lot of support from parents, Spartan friends, and most importantly, we have the Fossum family around. We can let the student-athletes know who Mary Fossum is and they can put a name with the face. It's pretty special that Mary can be at the tournament and hand out the trophies.
"That's really what it's all about - educating our student-athletes as to who paved the way for what we have now. We're so lucky now with travel, scholarships, and everything that our student-athletes have. It's nice to say thanks to Mary for all that, and of course, we always want to defend our home turf."
The 2010 Fossum Invitational features 11 teams, including Eastern Michigan, Ferris State, Grand Valley State, Iowa State, James Madison, Kent State, Long Beach State, Michigan, Notre Dame and Toledo, along with the host Spartans. The tournament, which will be 36 holes on Saturday and 18 holes on Sunday, begins both days with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. Live scoring of the entire tournament will be available at www.golfstat.com.
The Spartans opened the 2010-11 season at the prestigious NCAA Fall Preview, which featured 18 of the top programs in the nation. MSU finished 11th at the event, led by Caroline Powers, who tied for 30th with a three-round total of 220.
"I'm really excited," Powers said about playing on MSU's home course. "We play it so many times and I feel that gives us an advantage, just knowing where to be and where not to be. It will be fun to have some other people being able to come out to watch and to have some family here."
Senior Aimee Neff will be playing in her last Fossum Invitational this weekend, while true freshman Christine Meier will be participating in her first. Meier, who has played Forest Akers West several times in high school and also in practice, said "the nerves will definitely be there" while playing the course for the first time as a Spartan. In her first collegiate tournament, Meier tied Neff by shooting a 226 at the NCAA Fall Preview.
Michelle Bowles and Lindsey Solberg will round out the starting lineup for MSU. Solberg tied for third at the Fossum playing as an individual last year, and tied for second in 2008 in her first collegiate tournament.
In addition, Natalie Brehm, Maddi Massa, Liz Nagel and Shannon Warner will be competing as individuals in the tournament.
 Mary Fossum  | |
ABOUT MARY FOSSUM:
Mary Fossum was the first and only head coach in the history of Spartan women's golf prior to 1997, coaching from 1973 until her retirement. For 17 of those years, Fossum was part of a unique coaching pair as her husband, Bruce, coached the MSU men's team for 25 seasons before his retirement in 1989.
Under Fossum's guidance, the Spartans won an unprecedented five straight Big Ten titles from 1974-78 and played in six consecutive AIAW National Championships (1973-78). The Spartans regained the conference crown in 1982 and played in the 1982 and 1984 NCAA Championships. MSU claimed its third conference runner-up spot under Fossum at the 1987 Big Ten Championship.
Those accomplishments led to recognition of Fossum as one of the country's best collegiate golf coaches. She was honored as the first-ever NCAA Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 1984 and was inducted into the Golf Coaches Hall of Fame in 1988.
In 1999, Michigan State's annual fall women's golf tournament was renamed the Mary Fossum Invitational. In January of 1998, Fossum was honored by the College Golf Foundation with the Rolex/Gladys Palmer Meritorious Service Award for outstanding service and contributions to collegiate women's golf. She was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame on Sept. 27, 2003. In 2007, the Big Ten named its award for the women's golfer with the lowest stroke-average to par in a season the Mary Fossum Award.
A native of Green Bay, Wis., Fossum won the Wisconsin women's golf championship in 1945, 1946 and 1947. One of the many highlights of her career was her match-play victory over Mildred (Babe) Didrikson-Zaharias in the 1946 Women's Western Amateur semifinals. Fossum was inducted in 1990 into the Wisconsin Golf Hall of Fame, making her only the fifth woman to achieve that distinction.
Fossum also was involved at the national level, serving as a member of the NCAA golf committee which guides the national development and administration of women's collegiate golf.
27TH ANNUAL MARY FOSSUM INVITATIONAL QUICK FACTS:
HOST: Michigan State University
LOCATION: East Lansing, Mich.
DATES: Saturday, Sept. 25 - Sunday, Sept. 26
COURSE: Forest Akers West Golf Course
PAR/YARDAGE: 72 / 6,236
FORMAT: 36-18-54
TEE TIMES: Shotgun start at 9 a.m. (both days)
LIVE SCORING: Available at www.golfstat.com
FIELD (11): Eastern Michigan, Ferris State, Grand Valley State, Iowa State, James Madison, Kent State, Long Beach State, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Toledo
Players Mentioned
