BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Coming off the highest finish for a WKU Women's Golf team in the Great Smokies Intercollegiate all-time, WKU returns to the course on Monday at the ULM Fred Marx Invitational at Bayou DeSiard Country Club in Louisiana, Monroe.

The event is the third of five fall tournament's and second in less than 10 days for the WKU Women's Golf team.

In their last outing, WKU finished the Great Smokies Intercollegiate with the highest finish for WKU in the event in program history (fifth) and second lowest overall score (596) for the team. WKU made it's 11th appearance in the event all-time. WKU had previously finished seventh on two prior occasions.

"We had some really positives scores last week and really positive attitudes," said Burchett. "We really grinded it out last week and I was really proud of the girls."

Sophomore April Butler (Paducah, Ky.) finished 16th, tying her best career finish and posting her second career top 20 finish after shooting 147 (72-75). Butler was three-under going into the final four holes of the tournament, but finished 16th overall. Butler finished in a tie for 16th place in the APSU Intercollegiate last season, shooting 151 (78-73). Butler and senior Kelsey Burrell both recorded an eagle during the event. Freshman Michaela Bordeianu recorded her first career top 20 finish after shooting 148 (74-74) and finishing 19th.

"We did really well as a team," said Butler. "I am really proud of us to have improved (in our second round) when we didn't know going into the day that we would be playing 36 holes... I know what it feels like and know what the pressure is and look forward to getting in that situation again so I can handle the pressure next time."

Every WKU participant shot in the 70's in the soggy second round as the Lady Toppers shot under 300 in both rounds, marking the first time in the Ron Burchett era that WKU had multiple rounds under 300 in the same tournament.

"This is what we needed," said Burchett. "We got a taste of what we can be and it made the players hungrier. The attitudes were we could have done better, we could have done this or could have done that."

WKU will take the same lineup that posted a top five finish last week in Butler, Bordeianu, Burrell, freshman Ellinor Haag and sophomore Kate Lariomore to the event.

"This is going to be a tough course," said Burchett. "It is a bit longer than the course we just played. But we are on a positive high going into it."

For complete coverage of WKU Golf, visit the official website of WKU Athletics at www.wkusports.com.

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