The WSU Women’s Golf team tees off for the first time this fall on Sept. 8 at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational in Lexington, Kentucky.

New head coach Kevin Tucker will be at the helm for the first time, after previously serving as the associate head coach of the WSU men’s golf team.

The Bettie Lou Evans Invitational is hosted by the University of Kentucky at Keene Trace Golf Club. The tournament honors Bettie Lou Evans, former coach of the Wildcats women’s golf team from 1979 to 2001.

This is the 31st rendition of the tournament, and it will be particularly emotional for the Wildcats. Evans died on Sept. 26, 2023, making this the first tournament since her death. Her memory now lives on through the tournament.

Keene Trace Golf Club is a championship-level course at Lexington, which recently hosted the Kentucky Championship for the PGA Tour in July. Holes eight, nine, seventeen and eighteen will likely prove challenging, as they are situated around the edge of a lake which could cause golfers to slip up, sending their shots into the water.

The course is rated a 5.5 by Top100golfcourses.com.

“This is my first time [at this course]” Tucker said, who has heard about the course but has never been there. “The practice round is so important…We have to get adjusted to the style of grass,” he said.

Tucker is trying not to worry too much about results for his first tournament as head coach.

“We’re not talking about results,” he said.

Rather, he expects to see a strong “effort” from all of his players.

Cougars to watch include senior Madelyn Gamble, and freshman Grace Rubelsku. Gamble returns after placing 54th at the NCAA Regional Tournament last May, and posting the third-best average score last season in WSU history. Rubelsky is joining the team for the first tournament of her collegiate career.

This will be the Cougs first tournament since their 10th-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships in Pullman last April.