WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – After a week off from the season opener, Purdue Women's Golf returns to the course for back-to-back tournaments in the state of Illinois. The consecutive weeks of competition begins with the Windy Collegiate Classic, featuring five of the Top 10 teams in the country.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Momo Sugiyama – So. (10:18 a.m. ET off No. 10)
Arizona
#14 Arizona State
#10 Duke
#12 Florida
Iowa State
#23 Michigan
Michigan State
Northwestern (Host)
#7 Oregon
Purdue
#4 South Carolina
#5 Texas
#21 USC
#3 Virginia
Washington
THE COURSE
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
- Monday, Oct. 3: Rounds 1 and 2 (9:42 a.m. ET off No. 10)
- Tuesday, Oct. 4: Round 3 (Tee Times TBD)
Momo Sugiyama – So. (10:18 a.m. ET off No. 10)
- In her Purdue debut, tied for 21st to lead the Boilermakers at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship with a 1-over 214 (73-73-68)
- Making her second appearance as a Boilermaker but playing in her 13th collegiate tournament
- Transferred to Purdue after earning First Team All-Big West accolades as a freshman at Hawaii
- Set new Hawaii single-season records for stroke average (73.4), rounds of par-or-better (13), birdies (85) and 54-hole score (211)
- Captured the individual title at the Couer d'Alene Collegiate, where she carded a 1-under 212 total that included a final round 3-under 69
- Cracked the Top 10 in eight of the 11 tournaments
- Preseason B1G honoree
- Making her 36th appearance as a Boilermaker, the most on the team
- Fired a 69 (-2) in the second round of the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship
- Won a men's tournament over the summer, capturing the IGA Challenge Tour's Road to #5 at Akasia Golf Club in her home country of South Africa
- Led Purdue at the 2022 NCAA Stanford Regional, tying for 14th with a season-low 215 (71-73-71)
- Earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors as a freshman during the 2018-19 season
- Making her 12th appearance as a Boilermaker, including the second of the season
- Played in 10 tournaments last season, recording a 76.52 stroke average
- Tied for ninth at the 2022 Michigan PGA Women's Open over the summer, competing against professionals; her performance featured a hole-in-one during the opening round
- Started last spring by going 3-0 in Big Ten Match Play, helping Purdue finish runner-up
- 2021-22 Academic All-Big Ten
- Preseason B1G honoree
- Making her 2022-23 debut but playing in her 18th tournament as a Boilermaker
- Recorded a 75.06 stroke average over 12 tournaments last season
- Led Purdue in birdies (86) and pars (379) throughout the 2021-22 season
- Finished in the top 10 twice as a sophomore, both sixth-place performances (Illini Invitational, Indiana Invitational)
- 2021-22 Academic All-Big Ten
- Playing in her second tournament of the season which also matches her career appearances as a Boilermaker
- Tied for 26th in her Purdue debut, second best on the team, at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship with a 3-over 216 (73-71-72)
- Finished runner-up at the 2022 Pennsylvania Women's Am
- Tied for 16th at the 2022 Canadian Women's Am
- Redshirted a season ago
Arizona
#14 Arizona State
#10 Duke
#12 Florida
Iowa State
#23 Michigan
Michigan State
Northwestern (Host)
#7 Oregon
Purdue
#4 South Carolina
#5 Texas
#21 USC
#3 Virginia
Washington
THE COURSE
- Exmoor Country Club is a par 72 that measures 6,442 yards.
- Donald J. Ross, considered the "Dean" of American golf course architects, designed the Exmoor golf course in 1915.
- The layout features design antecedents to the great courses of Scotland: imaginative grass-faced bunkers, challenging green complexes and 18 holes shaped in natural ways by the land on which they were built.
- Purdue is playing in the Windy City Classic for the ninth consecutive season.
- The tournament annually features one of the toughest fields in the nation, and the Boilermakers' best finish during the stretch was a sixth-place performance during the 2016-17 campaign.
- This season's tournament features nine teams ranked in the Top 25 of the WGCA Coaches Poll, including five Top 10 teams.
- Two Boilermakers new to the Purdue lineup led the team at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship (Sept. 19-20).
- Momo Sugiyama, the first signee by head coach Zack Byrd, proved to make an immediate impact for Purdue Women's Golf in her debut.
- The Hawaii transfer carded a final-round 68 (-3) and finished tied for 21st to lead the Boilermakers with a 1-over 214 (73-73-68).
- Redshirt-freshman Jade Gu was right behind Sugiyama, placing 26th at 3-over (73-71-72—216) in her first tournament for Purdue.
- After a double bogey on her first hole, Gu played the final 35 holes of the opening day even par to pace the Boilermakers through two rounds.
- Gu parred 40 of the 54 holes to rank second in the 78-player field in pars.
- Following the retirement of legendary coach Devon Brouse, Zack Byrd was named the new head coach of Purdue Women's Golf.
- One of the top recruiters in the country, Byrd made the move to West Lafayette after spending four seasons at Ole Miss.
- Byrd helped the Rebels capture the 2021 NCAA National Championship, the first women's team national championship in Ole Miss history.
- Prior to beginning his coaching career, Byrd spent 10 years as a professional golfer; his career featured an appearance in the 2011 U.S. Open and qualifying for the final stage of PGA Tour Q School.
- Byrd hired Lauren Guiao as assistant coach; Guiao made the move to coaching and returned to the program after playing in 20 tournaments over her Purdue career (2017-21).
- A trio of Boilermakers were named Big Ten Preseason Women's Golf Honorees, the conference office announced ahead of the season. Kan Bunnabodee, Danielle du Toit and Ashley Kozlowski received the recognition.
- Bunnabodee earned First Team All-Big Ten honors a season ago, becoming the first Boilermaker to land on the league's first team since 2018; she will miss the fall due to injury.
- Du Toit is the veteran of the group, playing in 34 tournaments as a Boilermaker; she played her best golf late last spring and looks to continue that momentum into her senior season.
- Kozlowski played in a team-high 12 tournaments during the 2021-22 campaign; the Littleton, Colorado, native led the Boilermakers in birdies (86) and pars (379) throughout the season.
- Purdue is going through the fall campaign with 2022 First Team All-B1G golfer Kan Bunnabodee sidelined due to injury.
- Bunnabodee, the first Boilermaker to earn first team honors since 2018, will miss the entire fall after getting surgery over the summer.
- The Boilermakers waste no time returning to action with another tournament in Illinois next week. Purdue heads to historic Medinah Country Club for the Illini Invitational (Oct. 10-11).