AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (September 27, 2017) -- Former FIU golfer Tania Tare (Auckland, New Zealand) will play in this week's LPGA Tour MCKAYSON New Zealand Women's Open, with action starting on Thursday, September 28. The four-round tournament takes place at Windross Farm in Tare's hometown of Auckland. It will be her professional tournament debut following her playing career at FIU.
Tare was invited by the tournament to play in the event after her golf trick-shot videos (search Tania Tare on YouTube or Instagram), which she shot while recovering from wrist surgeries, went viral.
Though known more recently for those amazing videos, the New Zealand native holds the FIU single-round scoring record with a 63, shot at the 6
th Annual Johnie Imes Invitational on October 2, 2012. Her 2012-13 season average of 75.07 is the 14
th-best in program history for one year. In her four-year career, Tare recorded a 76.35 stroke average, playing 93 competitive rounds for the Panthers.
"It's remarkable with what Tania has been through with two arm injuries for her to be playing at this level," said FIU Head Coach Joe Vogel. "We are always excited when an FIU golfer earns a spot in a professional event. It has been happening a lot more recently, but I am still proud every time."
This is the first year that the New Zealand Open is a sanctioned LPGA event. Tare is scheduled to tee off at 12:37 p.m. local time, which is 7:37 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday. Live results can be
followed at this link. She is slated to start with American Rachel Rohanna and fellow New Zealander Cathryn Bristow.
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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/.
