Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina women’s golf opens its next chapter on Monday, Aug. 26, as the Catamounts open the 2024-25 season – the first under head coach Anne Marie Covar – with two rounds at the Tiger Classic, hosted by Clemson at the on-campus John E. Walker Golf Course that plays at par-72 and 6,209 yards.
 
Monday’s first trip to the one-day, 36-hole season opener starts a 10-event schedule for the Catamounts equally split between the fall and spring seasons that culminates with the 2025 Southern Conference Women’s Golf Championship next April.
 
In addition to WCU and the host Tigers – who finished fifth in last year’s NCAA stroke play championship – the 16-team field includes two additional SoCon teams in Mercer and UNCG. Rounding out the field are golfers from Appalachian State, Campbell, Gardner-Webb, Georgia Southern, Jacksonville State, Jacksonville, North Alabama, Presbyterian, Troy, UNC Asheville, Charlotte, and USC Upstate.
 
A combined eight NCAA Division I conferences are represented in the field. Live scoring through the score Scoreboard powered by Clippd is available online (scoreboard.clippd.com).
 
Entering 2024-25, Western Carolina’s six-player roster is evenly split between returners and newcomers. Senior Elizbeth Lohbauer from Venice, Fla., is the squad’s leading returning scorer after averaging 74.44 over 27 rounds last season, 10th-best in the SoCon. Lohbauer is flanked by classmate Kaitlyn Wingnean (Edmonton, Alberta) and two-sport student-athlete Sadler Miller (Clayton, N.C.) to cap the trio of returners.
 
A trio of highly-touted true freshmen will be called upon to contribute right away in making the transition to the collegiate game. North Carolina product Annalee Caveney (Raleigh), is joined by Madison Lehr (Mechanicsville, Va.) and Canadian-born striker Ella Kozak (Yorkton, Saskatchewan) to round out the lineup entering the season.

Going into Monday’s season opener, freshmen Kozak and Caveney are positioned as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, with senior Elizabeth Lohbauer in as the third position. Rounding out WCU’s scoring five are a third freshman in Madison Lehr with Kaitlyn Wingnean qualifying in the No. 5 position. WCU’s sixth rostered golfer, Sadler Miller, will vie for the individual championship playing unattached.

 

Covar, who was named the eighth head coach for the Catamount women’s golf program just a couple of weeks prior to the scheduled opener, inherited WCU’s 10-event schedule. Following Monday’s two-rounds to open the campaign, WCU has two scheduled events in September and a pair in October to conclude the fall schedule. Four of WCU’s 10 tournaments will be played in the Old North State with just three repeat events from previous seasons.

 

The Catamounts head to the bayou Sept. 8-10 for the 54-hole Green Wave Invitational, hosted by Tulane at the TPC Louisiana in Avondale. It is the first time that WCU has competed in the southern Louisiana tournament. The first day includes 36 continuous holes on Monday ahead of the final 18 on Tuesday. September then concludes in Asheboro, N.C., with the Tot Hill Farm Invitational hosted by the College of Charleston on Sept. 23-24.

 

WCU ventures to the Triangle in mid-October for the three-day Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational, hosted by North Carolina at the Finley Golf Course on Oct. 10-13. Then, a second, first-time competition closes the fall portion of the schedule as the Catamounts compete at The Robbie, hosted by Lipscomb University. Women’s golfers converge on the RTJ Hampton Cove Highlands Course in Huntsville, Ala., Oct. 25-27.

 

The spring championship portion of the 2024-25 schedule opens in late February with consecutive events that mirror last year’s ledger. The spring opens at Mercer’s Reynolds Lake Oconee Invitational on the Renyolds Great Waters Course in Eatonton, Ga., Feb. 21-23, 2025. WCU looks to improve upon a 10th-place finish a season ago despite a fourth-place finish by Lohbauer.

 

A three-event calendar in March opens in the tropics as the Catamounts return to Ball State’s Puerto Rico Classic at the Palmas Del Mar – Flamboyan Course in Humacao, Puerto Rico. WCU looks to build upon a fifth-place showing at last year’s trip off the mainland.

 

March continues with consecutive events in North Carolina, beginning with the City of Oaks Collegiate, hosted by NC State at the University’s Lonnie Poole Golf Course in Raleigh. The event features 54 holes spread over two days, Friday and Saturday, March 21-22. Then in the penultimate event of the regular season, the Catamounts look to three-peat as team champions at the Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate, hosted by Appalachian State at the Mimosa Hills Golf Club in Morganton, N.C., March 31 through April 1.

 

A champion will then be crowned at the 2025 Southern Conference Women’s Golf Championship which has a new home this season. The league’s nine women’s golf teams venture into the Midlands of South Carolina and West Columbia, S.C., at the Solina Golf Club. The team champion from the event garners the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA postseason with the chance of an individual to also earn a berth if not among the winning scoring five.

 

Keep track of everything related to Catamount women’s golf and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountWGolf).

 

Western Carolina Women’s Golf – 2024-25 Schedule

Fall 2024

Aug. 26 – Tiger Classic – The Walker Course (Clemson, S.C.)

Sept. 9-10 – Green Wave Invitational – TPC Louisiana (Avondale, La.)

Sept. 23-24 – Tot Hll Farm Invitational – Tot Hill Farm GC (Asheboro, N.C.)

Oct. 11-13 – Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational – Finley GC (Chapel Hill, N.C.)

Oct. 25-27 – The Robbie – RTJ Hampton Cove, Highlands (Huntsville, Ala.)

 

Spring 2025

Feb. 21-23 – Reynolds Lake Oconee Invitational – Reynolds, Great Waters (Eatonton, Ga.)

March 4-6 – Puerto Rico Classic – Palmas del Mar – Flamboyan – Humacao, Puerto Rico)

March 21-22 – City of Oaks Collegiate – Lonnie Poole GC (Raleigh, N.C.)

March 31-April 1 – Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate – Mimosa Hills GC (Morganton, N.C.)

April 13-15 – 2025 SoCon Women’s Golf Championship – Solina GC (West Columbia, S.C.)