Florida's team is set and on their way to Alabama to defend their back-to-back titles at the 3rd Women’s Southeastern Challenge Matches. As Alabama hosts, the Championship is being held August 11-12 at The Lakewood Club in Point Clear, AL, just west of Pensacola.
Florida will be represented by eight amateurs including, Hannah Berman of Ponte Vedra Beach, Anastasia Carter of Saint Augustine, Charlotte Daughan of Orlando, Katie Holt of Clermont, Mary Janiga of Wellington, Kaeli Jones of Sumterville, Therese Quinn of Jacksonville, and Lisa Schlesinger of Fort Myers. The four senior selections on the team are Taffy Brower of Boynton Beach, Tama Caldabaugh of Ponte Vedra Beach, Gigi Higgins of Cape Coral, and Lin Culver of Palm Coast.
Alabama will host the 2016 matches at The Lakewood Club's Dogwood Course. Hosted by Georgia in 2014 at Reynolds Plantation-Great Waters, the only returning team members are Lin Culver, Charlotte Daughan, Gigi Higgins, and Therese Quinn. Culver is the only Florida member to go undefeated in every Southeastern Challenge match since the start of the event.
Florida will be captained by Tournament Director, Jenna Masnyk, and Tournament Manager, Molly Moore. In the Inaugural Women’s Southeastern Challenge Matches in 2012, Florida took home the title after a great comeback from the morning day one matches.They claimed the win with a total of 24 points over Georgia’s 20.5 and Alabama’s 18.5. In the most recent Southeastern Challenge Matches (2014), Florida continued their winning streak, taking home the title, defeating Georgia by 8.5 points and Alabama by 15.5 points. This year's teams from each state prove to be strong and will make for intense matches this week.
The Women’s Southeastern Challenge Matches are a biannual competition between Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Each state may enter a team of 12 players, consisting of eight amateurs and four seniors. Like the Ryder Cup, on the first day there will be two matches consisting of morning four-ball matches and afternoon foursome (alternate shot) matches. Thursday's morning matches will begin promptly at 8:00 AM followed by the afternoon matches at 1:30 PM. And on the final day there will be 12 total single matches, with a player from each association in each match competing against one another (three-ball match). Friday's matches will begin at 8:00 AM.
