Rebel Golfers Compete for Pure Silk Women’s Collegiate Championship

Rebel senior and junior one of 42 two-person teams competing for title

Stani Schiavone
Photo by Ole Miss Sports

Kathryn Fowler and Stani Schiavone will represent the Ole Miss women’s golf team this week at the Pure Silk Women’s Collegiate Team Championship presented by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association in Powell, Ohio.

The three-day tournament called the “most unique summertime national women’s amateur championship” by the WGCA, will begin Tuesday and conclude Thursday at Wedgewood Golf & Country Club (par 72 – 5,211 yards).

The tournament will consist of 42 two-person teams comprised of the top current women’s collegiate golfers from around the country. Each team pairs players from the same university in a 54-hole stroke-play event. Teams are comprised of players from all levels of collegiate golf, including Division I, II and III programs.

The tournament will begin Tuesday with alternate shot play. Wednesday’s round will be best ball format, and the final round Thursday will be the aggregate score of the two players. Play will begin at 7 a.m. CT each day off the No. 1 and No. 10 tees.

“I like the team format,” said Fowler, a rising senior for the Rebels. “It’s different than any other tournament I’ve played in. My favorite format we’ll play is probably best ball because it gives you an opportunity to score since only one score counts each hole. It should be a lot of fun playing with Stani because we’re really good friends.”

Kathryn Fowler
Photo by Ole Miss Sports

“My favorite thing about this tournament is the different format that it has compared to other tournaments,” said Schiavone, a rising junior for Ole Miss. “We get to play with our teammates in a different way at this event. We play by ourselves normally in tournaments, and this one we will work together on the course. Kathryn and I play together throughout the year and we know each other well and our games well. It’s not as much what we’re trying to shoot this week as it is us trying to play together well. If we do that the score will fall in place and we can do great.”

Taelor Rubin and former Rebel Haley Sanders finished in a tie for fifth at last year’s championship. The Rebel duo carded the fourth lowest score on the final day of the tournament to move up five spots on the leaderboard after entering the day in a tie for 10th.

Fowler, an Americus, Ga., native, previously competed in this event, which was then called the Hooters Women’s Collegiate Team Championship and was held in Dahlonega, Ga., in 2011. Fowler teamed up with Sanders that week, and the Rebel duo finished in a tie for 11th at 1-under-par. Former Rebels Ashley Lance and Haley Millsap, who also played that week, finished in a tie for sixth at 3-under-par. Lance and Sanders tied for 16th in 2010, the inaugural year of the event.

Fowler played in seven tournaments as a junior with Ole Miss, and had a 78.57 stroke average. Fowler’s best finish came in Honolulu where she tied for 20th at the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invite.

Schiavone, a native of Bangor, Pa., also played in seven tournaments last season for the Rebels after transferring from Baylor, and had a 76.19 stroke average. Schiavone’s best tournament came at the Clover Cup in Mesa, Ariz., where she finished eighth at even par.

Earlier during the summer season, Fowler advanced to the quarterfinals of the Women’s Southern Golf Association Amateur Championship in Killen, Ala.

Ole Miss is one of five schools from the Southeastern Conference competing in the Pure Silk Women’s Collegiate Team Championship. The Rebels are joined this week by Kentucky, Missouri, which has two teams in the event, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.

The WGCA, founded in 1983, is a non-profit organization representing women’s collegiate golf coaches. The WGCA was formed to encourage the playing of college golf for women in correlation with a general objective of education and in accordance with the highest tradition of intercollegiate competition. Today, the WGCA represents over 500 coaches throughout the U.S. and is dedicated to educating, promoting and recognizing both its members and the student-athletes they represent.

For all Ole Miss women’s golf news and information go to OleMissSports.com, and follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissWGolf and on Facebook at Ole Miss Women’s Golf.

Pure Silk Women’s Collegiate Team Championship

Wedgewood Golf & Country Club

Powell, Ohio

Par 72 – 5,211 yards

Ole Miss: Kathryn Fowler, Stani Schiavone

— Ole Miss Athletics Media Relations