NAIA Championship Begins Today

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. -The 2011 NAIA Women’s Golf National Championships are set to get underway Tuesday from Link Hills Country Club at 8 a.m. EDT. The 17th annual event is a 72-hole stroke-play tournament that will be played over the course of four days, concluding with the final round on Friday. LIVE SCORING

First-round action will tee off with Shorter (Ga.), Northwood (Fla.) and Lindenwood (Mo.) starting on No. 1 and British Columbia, South Carolina – Beaufort and Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) on No. 10 at 8 a.m. Victoria (B.C.), Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) and Minot State (N.D.) will start on No. 10 at 12:30 p.m. Action off of No. 1 will start at 1 p.m. with Embry-Riddle (Fla.), Lee (Tenn.) and Indiana Tech.

Greeneville welcomes 129 players representing 29 schools from across the country. Among those 29 teams that will be in action, 17 played in the 2010 National Championships. Headlining the returning s quads is defending national champion British Columbia. The Thunderbirds carded a 301-311-311-301—1224 to win their third national title in program history in 2010. They denied Oklahoma City its sixth-straight championship by seven strokes, 308-302-314-307—1231.

Oklahoma City has won the most national championships, capturing five consecutive from 2005 – 09. British Columbia has three banners to its credit, winning in 2001, 2004 and 2010. Northwood is the only other team competing in Greenville that has previously won a title, finishing first in 2003.

Not only does the team champion return to defend its title, so does individual medalist Nathalie Silva of California Baptist. Silva won top-honors in her freshman campaign to become the first Lancer to claim a national title. She held a two-stroke advantage (74-76-75-76—301) to runner-up Kylie Barros of British Columbia (78-77-75-73—303). Silva will look to become the first player in the event’s history to win back-to-back medalist honors.

The 129-player field for the National Championships is comprised of 16 automatic qualifying teams from conferences/independents/unaffiliated group tournaments and nine at-large selections, were determined using the final NAIA Women's Golf Coaches' Top 25 Poll released on May 5. Additionally, four individuals earned a spot in the event as the medalist at their respective conference/independent/unaffiliated group tournament. Ten of the 15 2010 All-Tournament Team selections will also return to the course as a member of a qualifying team.