Spartans Host 31st Annual Mary Fossum Invitational This Weekend

Sept. 11, 2014

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The defending Big Ten Champion Michigan State women's golf team opens its 2014-15 season this weekend (Saturday, Sept. 13; Sunday, Sept. 14) by hosting the 31st annual Mary Fossum Invitational at Forest Akers West Golf Course on the campus of MSU.

The Spartans must replace four starters from last season's team that claimed the Big Ten Championship and advanced to the NCAA Championships for the third straight season, but many veterans with starting experience are returning, including seniors Lindsey McPherson, Trisha Witherby and Jenny Sritragul, and junior Gabby Yurik.

In addition, two freshmen - Sarah Burnham and Jacqueline Setas - should make an immediate impact in the lineup. Both Burnham and Setas qualified for the starting lineup this weekend, along with McPherson, Witherby and Yurik.

"We have a wonderful and very talented team," said MSU head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, who is entering her 18th season leading the Spartans. "We've got a lot of young players, and then we've got seniors, so it's an interesting mix. But they are just a great group of young people that want to succeed and that are eager to learn. Our players accomplished a lot this summer, and we know that those experiences will only carry over for us to have a great fall and then an awesome spring in 2015."

The 15-team field for this year's Fossum Invitational includes Central Michigan, East Tennessee State, Eastern Michigan, Ferris State, Florida International, Grand Valley State, Houston, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Oakland, Toledo and Western Michigan.

The tournament begins Saturday with two rounds, starting at 9 a.m. The third and final round is set for Sunday at 8:30 a.m.; both days will be shotgun starts. Live scoring of the entire tournament will be available at birdiefire.com. The format will be five players in the starting lineup for each team, with the top-four scores counting toward the team total.

The Spartans have won their home tournament eight out of the last 11 years, with victories in the 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013 Mary Fossum Invitationals, and the 2006 Lady Northern Invitational. Overall, MSU has won the Mary Fossum Invitational 10 times.

"Just being able to have Mary here and have her hand out the trophies is very special," Slobodnik-Stoll said. "I still think about the day when we renamed the Spartan Invitational the Mary Fossum Invitational. After she retired we had her signage underneath the Spartan Invitational, then at the awards ceremony we tore it off and we announced we were renaming it the Mary Fossum Invitational. It seems like yesterday, but it was quite a number of years ago now.

"I think for our current team to see her out here and for them to just understand what she's done for women's golf is important. She is one of the true pioneers of getting all of the benefits that all student-athletes have in golf today. She was one of the founders that helped us pave the way to get to where we are. I feel very blessed to have her in our lives and that she's still able to be here with us, and that we can honor her, at least in one little way by having her there with us for the presentation. She's a very special woman."

The Spartan senior class of 2014 - Allyssa Ferrell, Christine Meier and Liz Nagel - left a lasting legacy with three Big Ten Championships, four NCAA Regional appearances, and three consecutive trips to nationals. Kelly Grassel also departed after her freshman season as she transferred to Florida. But Slobodnik-Stoll feels the program will maintain its place atop the Big Ten.

"When you're walking around in the locker room and a majority of those players have several Big Ten Championship rings on their hands, as a young player, as a freshman, I would think there's nothing more they want than to have their own ring and their own championship," remarked Slobdnik-Stoll. "And that's how good programs survive and how that tradition of excellence is created. It's an expectation here."

McPherson displayed her potential with an impressive summer season. She finished runner-up in two major tournaments, the Michigan Women's Amateur and the GAM Championship, and claimed medalist honors at a Midwest Collegiate Amateur Series event in Kendallville, Indiana. McPherson also placed second among amateurs and 11th overall at the Michigan PGA Women's Open. The Flushing, Michigan, native topped off her summer by receiving a sponsor exemption to play in the Meijer LPGA Classic in Grand Rapids.

"Lindsey is going to be a huge leader on our team this year," said Slobodnik-Stoll. "She had such great experiences this summer. It was just so awesome to see her have that opportunity at the LPGA Meijer Classic, and to understand and feel and know she can play with the best players in the world. You wish every player could have that experience, just to give them the confidence. We see a difference in her already in the way she handles herself on the golf course and the way she feels about herself and her game.

"She's made the decision and the commitment that she will turn pro after she graduates from Michigan State. So that's something else in the back of her mind that we are all working toward, not just to have the best collegiate season, but also to prepare her for the LPGA tour. So it's pretty exciting."

Although Witherby didn't compete in the postseason for the Spartans in 2014, she has extensive starting experience. She has played in 18 career tournaments and compiled a career-low 76.84 scoring average last season while playing in seven events. Over the summer, Witherby finished runner-up at the Indiana State Amateur and tied for 11th among amateurs at the Michigan PGA Women's Open.

Yurik, who is in her third season with the program, participated in six tournaments during her first season of competition in 2013-14, including the Big Ten Championships, NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships. She placed a season-best seventh at the Big Ten Championships with a season-low 226 to help the Spartans win the conference title. Yurik qualified for the U.S. Women's Amateur over the summer and also tied for fifth during stroke play at the Michigan Women's Amateur to qualify for match play.

Slobodnik-Stoll is excited about the potential for newcomers Burnham and Setas. Named to the Big Ten Golfers to Watch List as a true freshman, Burnham is one of the most successful players to ever come out of the state of Minnesota. Just this past summer, she qualified for match play at the U.S. Women's Amateur, won the Minnesota State Junior Girls' State Championship by six shots, took first place at the Minnesota Women's Public Golf Association Match Play Championship, and claimed medalist honors at the Minnesota State Amateur Four-Ball Championships.

A four-time all-state selection, Burnham just missed winning her second straight individual state championship as a senior in 2014, but she still led Wayzata High School to the team state title. The two-time Minnesota Junior Player of the Year was named the Minnesota Golf Association Women's Player of the Year at age 16 and also won the Minnesota PGA Women's Open in 2013.

Setas, an East Lansing product who attended Lansing Catholic Central High School, won the 2013 state championship in Division 4 by nine shots. A two-time Super Team selection by the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association, Setas was also a two-time Lansing State Journal Golfer of the Year and a four-time LSJ Dream Team honoree. She was ranked the No. 1 player in the state of Michigan by Junior Golf Scorecard, and No. 37 nationally by Polo Rankings.

Alison Knowles, a transfer from Louisiana-Monroe, will have to sit out the fall season, but should be another newcomer making an impact for the Spartans in the spring. Knowles won four tournaments last season, was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year, and qualified individually for the NCAA West Regional. She finished the year with a 73.03 scoring average.

In addition to the starting lineup, the Spartans will also have several players competing individually in the tournament this weekend.

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. Bruce passed away earlier this year in March at the age of 86.

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, Wisconsin, 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.

She earned the Michigan Women's Golf Association Lifetime Achievement Award in May 2014.

2014 MARY FOSSUM INVITATIONAL INFORMATION

TOURNAMENT: 31st annual Mary Fossum Invitational

HOST: Michigan State University

LOCATION: East Lansing, Mich.

DATES: Saturday, Sept. 13 - Sunday, Sept. 14

COURSE: Forest Akers West Golf Course

PAR/YARDAGE: 72 / 6,236

FORMAT: 36-18-54

TEE TIMES: Shotgun start both days. Saturday at 9 a.m., Sunday at 8:30 a.m.

LIVE SCORING: Available at www.BirdieFire.com

FIELD (15): Central Michigan, East Tennessee State, Eastern Michigan, Ferris State, Florida International, Grand Valley State, Houston, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Oakland, Toledo, Western Michigan

TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Click here for Mary Fossum Invitational history

MEDIA CONTACT: Ben Phlegar (517-355-2271; phlegarb@ath.msu.edu)