ABILENE – Abilene Christian women’s golf will make history this week as it hosts its first-ever tournament in the West Texas Classic on Monday and Tuesday at the Abilene Country Club’s North Course.

The tournament will play its first two rounds on Monday with an 8 a.m. shotgun start before the final round begins at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. Admission is free, with a trophy presentation to follow at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

It’s the first time the Wildcats have hosted a tournament since the program’s establishment in 2023. ACU came in second place at the Western Athletic Conference Championship last season and has logged top-10 finishes in each of its five tournaments this year.

“We are very excited to host the first ever West Texas Classic right here in Abilene!” head coach Rob Bennett said. “We look forward to welcoming 15 schools from around the United States to Abilene Country Club’s North Course.”

The Wildcats will host programs from across the nation, including nine other Texas schools in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Incarnate Word, Lamar, Prairie View A&M, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton State, Texas Southern and UT Arlington.

Other programs include Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Dayton, Drake, Oral Roberts, South Dakota and Toledo. In addition to ACU, five teams logged top-three finishes in their respective conference championships in 2024.

Three Wildcats will compete as individuals, joining competitors from Drake and Tarleton State.

“ACC has been really easy to work with and the Women’s Golf Association has been a great partner as we look to make this one of the highlight events for each team this season,” Bennett said. “We are grateful for all of their help in setting up this event. We also want to thank Marcus Dunn for helping us secure dinner and lunch for our event from a couple of our wonderful business partners, Fuzzy’s Taco Shop and Chick-fil-A.”

In their last time out, the Wildcats finished in third place out of 14 teams at the BGSU Women’s Intercollegiate. Leading the charge for ACU is junior Ryann Honea, who was named the Jersey Mike’s A Sub Above WAC Women’s Golfer of the Week on Feb. 13 after claiming the individual title at the BGSU Women’s Intercollegiate with a 5-over 213.

The Wildcats will have their entire roster of eight in action on the course. Senior Sydney Williams notched an 18th-place finish at the BGSU Women’s Intercollegiate, her best finish of the season. Freshmen Marissa Loya and Jasmine Do will each compete in the third tournament of their collegiate careers, with Loya coming in 15th at Bowling Green.

Fellow freshman Julia Vollmer looks to continue a strong start to her ACU career, having not finished below 33rd place in four tournaments this season. In the fall, she came in ninth at the Red Raider Invitational on Sept. 24-25.

Kate Pickrell and Jiyu Han will each compete in their fifth tournaments of the season, while Manon Guille will see action for the third time. Han and Guille combined for five top-10 finishes last season.

Guille, Han and Do will compete as individuals.

“We have set the course up tough, but fair, and we believe it will be a good test,” Bennett said. “Our expectation is to have a chance to win as a team and for one of our players to have a chance to win individually. Our ladies have been preparing hard for this event and we are starting to come into form, so we are really looking forward to teeing it up on Monday!

“We are hoping for a good turnout of ACU fans and encourage anyone that is able to come out, wear purple, and support our young women!”

Live stats will be recorded on Golf Genius, with final results being posted on SCOREBOARD via Clippd.