Spartans Host 35th Annual Mary Fossum Invitational This Weekend
9/13/2018 11:11:00 AM | Women's Golf
EAST LANSING -- The two-time defending Big Ten champion Michigan State women's golf team will begin its 2018-19 season this weekend with the 35th annual Mary Fossum Invitational. The annual fall tournament will take place at Forest Akers West on Saturday (36 holes) and Sunday (18 holes). Saturday's opening round at the par-72, 6,334-yard course is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. and Sunday's final round will get underway at 9 a.m. Admission is free to spectators.Â
MARY FOSSUM INVITATIONAL HISTORY
Named after Michigan State's longtime head coach from 1973-97, the Mary Fossum Invitational began in 1978 and is held annually at Michigan State's Forest Akers West Golf Course in September. Michigan State has won the Fossum 11 times, most recently last year in 2017.Â
The Spartans won the 34th Fossum Invitational with a tournament record 5-under-par 859 (285-278-296). Spartan golfers swept the top three spots, led by Sarah Burnham who posted the lowest Fossum Invitational winning score since 2010 with a 6-under-par 210 (70-67-73). Ally Geer-Park took second place and Paz Marfa Sans third.Â
Complete year-by-year tournament history can be found here.
LIVE SCORING
Golfstat
THE FIELD
This year's 16-team field features some of the top programs in the country. Seven of the team's in the 2018 Fossum Invitational were a part of last year's NCAA Tournament (Michigan State, Florida, Georgia, Miami, Old Dominion, Texas Tech, Virginia) and four appear in the Golfweek preseason top 30 - Florida (12), Michigan State (18), Virginia (23) and Miami (26).
The complete field (final 2017-18 Golfstat ranking): Michigan State (13), Eastern Michigan (182), Florida (14), Georgia (33), Indiana (58), Kansas State (74), Mercer (78), Miami (38), Mississippi State (70), Northern Illinois (135), Old Dominion (60), Rutgers (118), Sacramento State (56), Texas Tech (50), Toledo (97) and Virginia (29).
THE LINEUP
The Spartan lineup includes the team's two most experienced golfers in juniors Ally Geer-Park and Paz Marfa Sans, as well as a pair of rookies in Haylin Harris and Valery Plata. Sophomore Yurika Tanida, who played in each of the last four tournaments a season ago, rounds out the Spartans' starting five.
Additionally, the eight other Spartans on the roster will all play as individuals, including Jacqueline Setas, who missed all of last season while undergoing cancer treatment.
A LOOK AT THE SPARTANS
Ally Geer-Park and Paz Marfa Sans both earned All-Big Ten first team honors a season ago in helping the Spartans to their second straight league title. Geer recorded the second lowest single-season average in school history at 71.61, while Marfa Sans posted the third-lowest at 72.29. The duo will be counted on to lead a young MSU squad that has just one senior (Jacqueline Setas).
Sophomore Yurika Tanida ended her rookie season with a 75.75 scoring average and played some of her best golf toward the end of the season. Freshmen Haylin Harris and Valery Plata both had stellar high school careers and will get their first collegiate experience 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 in March 2014 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.
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MARY FOSSUM INVITATIONAL HISTORY
Named after Michigan State's longtime head coach from 1973-97, the Mary Fossum Invitational began in 1978 and is held annually at Michigan State's Forest Akers West Golf Course in September. Michigan State has won the Fossum 11 times, most recently last year in 2017.Â
The Spartans won the 34th Fossum Invitational with a tournament record 5-under-par 859 (285-278-296). Spartan golfers swept the top three spots, led by Sarah Burnham who posted the lowest Fossum Invitational winning score since 2010 with a 6-under-par 210 (70-67-73). Ally Geer-Park took second place and Paz Marfa Sans third.Â
Complete year-by-year tournament history can be found here.
LIVE SCORING
Golfstat
THE FIELD
This year's 16-team field features some of the top programs in the country. Seven of the team's in the 2018 Fossum Invitational were a part of last year's NCAA Tournament (Michigan State, Florida, Georgia, Miami, Old Dominion, Texas Tech, Virginia) and four appear in the Golfweek preseason top 30 - Florida (12), Michigan State (18), Virginia (23) and Miami (26).
The complete field (final 2017-18 Golfstat ranking): Michigan State (13), Eastern Michigan (182), Florida (14), Georgia (33), Indiana (58), Kansas State (74), Mercer (78), Miami (38), Mississippi State (70), Northern Illinois (135), Old Dominion (60), Rutgers (118), Sacramento State (56), Texas Tech (50), Toledo (97) and Virginia (29).
THE LINEUP
The Spartan lineup includes the team's two most experienced golfers in juniors Ally Geer-Park and Paz Marfa Sans, as well as a pair of rookies in Haylin Harris and Valery Plata. Sophomore Yurika Tanida, who played in each of the last four tournaments a season ago, rounds out the Spartans' starting five.
Additionally, the eight other Spartans on the roster will all play as individuals, including Jacqueline Setas, who missed all of last season while undergoing cancer treatment.
A LOOK AT THE SPARTANS
Ally Geer-Park and Paz Marfa Sans both earned All-Big Ten first team honors a season ago in helping the Spartans to their second straight league title. Geer recorded the second lowest single-season average in school history at 71.61, while Marfa Sans posted the third-lowest at 72.29. The duo will be counted on to lead a young MSU squad that has just one senior (Jacqueline Setas).
Sophomore Yurika Tanida ended her rookie season with a 75.75 scoring average and played some of her best golf toward the end of the season. Freshmen Haylin Harris and Valery Plata both had stellar high school careers and will get their first collegiate experience 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 in March 2014 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.
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