LAKEWOOD RANCH, Florida (October 21, 2017) -- FIU hosts the 40
th Annual Pat Bradley Invitational this week, in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, at the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club. The event is a 54-hole event now over two days, on the par-72 course, set up for 6,288 yards for the event. Previously scheduled for three, 18-hole days, the tournament committee got together and looked at the forecast and decided to play 36 on Monday after an 18-hole Sunday opening round.
The field includes 15 teams this year, with FIU joined by Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan, Florida Atlantic, FGCU, Georgia State, Jacksonville, UMKC, Morehead State, Southern Miss, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, USF, WKU and Wyoming.
The Invitational, named for golfing legend and FIU's first All-American, is one of the longest-running collegiate golf events. Starting in 1977 at Hollywood Lakes Inn and Country Club, the event has been contested at 12 different venues before moving to Lakewood Ranch in 2012. The Invitational was not contested in 1992 due to the devastation of Hurricane Andrew in South Florida.
FIU leads all teams in the history of the tournament with nine wins, including last fall, and in 2011 and 2012. Florida's Samantha Wagner was the individual champion last season, setting the tournament record with a score of 202. FIU's Michelle Simpson is the only four-time winner of the event, from 1997-2000.
This season, FIU missed one tournament due to weather, but has registered two events. Freshmen
Carolina Andrade (Bogota, Colombia) and
Hannah Leiner (Pompano Beach, Florida / North Broward Prep) are tied for the team lead with a 76.33 stroke average.
The event will have live results posted at Birdiefire.com for both days and all 54 holes.
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute. FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
