Pete Dye course to challenge women for the first time, April 25-27
French Lick, Ind. – The 2014 Big Ten Women’s Golf Championships will return for the third time to French Lick Resort in southern Indiana from April 25-27, but for the first time the women will be taking on the award-winning Pete Dye course.
The women played the historic Donald Ross course at the resort last year at the same time the Big Ten Men’s Golf Championships played out on the Pete Dye course. This year, the women take center stage first, followed on May 2-4 by the men as the Big Ten Conference maintains its effort to select a neutral site for the championships. Golfweek magazine has ranked the Pete Dye course No. 1 in Indiana.
The Big Ten golfers will play 54 holes of stroke play with 18 holes of competition each day. Purdue and Northwestern, co-champions a year ago, will head the field. Northwestern won its first Big Ten Championship, and Purdue its sixth. Each team carded scores of 884 on the Ross course. Michigan State, which had won the two previous conference championships, was third with 889. Purdue’s Paula Reto was the individual medalist with a 4-under-par 212.
Devon Brouse, Purdue’s coach, said the opportunity to play the Pete Dye course this year is phenomenal.
“I believe professional golf will have a major championship there someday,” he said. “It’s one of those venues like Whistling Straits or Pinehurst that will stand the test of time.”
Emily Fletcher, Northwestern’s coach, said her team played a practice round in the fall and is looking forward to competing at the venue.
“It’s a tremendous facility, quite a bit more severe around the greens than the Ross course, visually more intimidating,” she said. “It’s a tough test, but I think the best team will win and we will crown a worthy champion.”
Dave Harner, PGA director of golf operations at French Lick Resort, feels Dye created the perfect design to identify the top women golfers in the Big Ten in part because the designer’s wife, Alice, was involved in the creative process.
“Alice Dye’s influence and desire to make the course fair for women is noticeable throughout the round,” Harner said. “There are no forced-carries and the yardages make the course challenging for the expert and fair for the recreational player. The women of the Big Ten will love having their Championships at the Pete Dye Course. Pete’s designs are influenced by no one — except Alice!”
Purdue’s team lost four of its top five players from a year ago, but Brouse feels his rebuilt squad will be in the mix at what he called a wide-open championship.
“I think the Big Ten is up for grabs,” he said. “The quality of teams is probably better than it has ever been. There are six or seven teams ranked pretty highly now, and we are becoming nationally competitive to a greater degree than we were five or six years ago. It will be an exciting championship.”
Northwestern had a good fall season and five of the six golfers who played in the Big Ten Championships last year are still on the team. In addition, two freshmen have made contributions.
“We look forward to coming back and defending,” she said. “We will have to prepare a little different, but I expect us to compete and make a run at another championship.”
For more information about the Big Ten Championships and French Lick Resort, please visit www.frenchlick.com or call (888) 936-9360.
About the Big Ten Conference: The Big Ten Conference is an association of world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching and public service. Founded in 1896, the Big Ten has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in student-athletes’ lives and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness and competitiveness. The broad-based athletic programs of the 12 Big Ten institutions provide in excess of $141 million in direct financial aid to more than 8,200 student-athletes playing on more than 300 teams in 43 different sports. The Big Ten sponsors 26 official conference sports, 13 for men and 13 for women, and will add men’s and women’s lacrosse as the 27th and 28th official sports for the 2014-15 academic year. For more information, visit www.bigten.org.
About French Lick Resort: French Lick Resort is a $500 million historic restoration and casino development project that includes the West Baden Springs Hotel, French Lick Springs Hotel and the new French Lick Casino. This premier resort and casino destination in Southern Indiana features 686 guest rooms and suites; a 51,000-square-foot, single-level casino; 45 holes of golf, including the fully restored 1917-designed Donald Ross Course at French Lick and the new, 18-hole Pete Dye Course at French Lick; two full-service spas with a combined 36 treatment rooms totaling 42,000 square feet; meeting and event space totaling 115,000 square feet and an array of dining and entertainment options. For more information, visit www.frenchlick.com.
Contact:
Big Ten Conference, Olivia Truby, (847) 696-1010, otruby@bigten.org
French Lick Resort, Dyan Welsh Duncan, (812) 936-5926, dduncan@frenchlick.com
Fusion Media Strategies, Kevin Frisch, (989) 614-0241, kevin@fusionmediastrategies.com
