Pine Mountain, Ga. – Xavier will by vying for its third straight league title at the 2022 BIG EAST Women’s Golf Championship Presented by JEEP played at the Mountain View Course at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Ga. The Championship, which will be held April 21-23, is scheduled for 54 holes over three days.
 
The BIG EAST will crown a team champion, which earns an automatic berth to the 2022 NCAA Championship.  The individual champion also receives an NCAA Championship invitation.  The BIG EAST competition is scheduled to begin each day at 8 a.m. ET.  Immediately following the women’s championship, the BIG EAST Men’s Golf Championship Presented by JEEP also will be held at Callaway Gardens April 25-27. 
 
At the women’s tournament, Thursday’s first-round threesomes will be determined by team and player seedings, while Friday’s and Saturday’s groupings are assembled from the previous day’s leaderboard.  Six BIG EAST schools participate in women’s golf: Butler, Creighton, Georgetown, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Xavier.      
 
Xavier has two players ranked among the top six in the GolfStat rankings.  Sophomore Emma McMyler ranks first with an average score of 73.38.  In nine tournaments this year, she has three top-10 finishes including a win at the Bradley Coyote Creek Classic in October. In last year’s Championship, McMyler finished tied for eighth. Freshman Kara Carter ranks second in the overall rankings with an average score of 73.69. In eight tournaments, she has four top-10 finishes, including two runner-up performances.  Carter was second to McMyler at the Bradley Coyote Classic.   
 
Seton Hall, the second seed in the Championship, can look to graduate student Margot Bechadergue and senior Sarah Fouratt as the Pirates attempt to end Xavier’s two-year reign as the league champion. Bechadergue is fourth in the individual rankings with a 75.61 stroke average with Fouratt close behind in fifth at 75.70. Last year, the Pirates were the runner-up to Xavier in the team standings. 
 
Georgetown is the No. 3 seed. The Hoyas slipped to sixth last year after COVID wiped out their regular season. Georgetown had finished first or second for six straight tournaments. This spring, the Hoyas’ best finishes have come in their last two tournaments, a sixth-place in the Hoya Invitational and a fifth-place at the Babs Steffens Invitational. In both tournaments, senior Kaitlyn Lees was the top scorer followed by sophomore Megan Gormley.

St. John’s, the No. 4 seed, has been led by Jessie Kweon. The senior led the Red Storm to a team victory at the Hartford Invitational on April 3 by capturing medalist honors. Kweon tied for 11^th at last year’s Championship. Grad student Andrea Sanchez and sophomore Angelica Kusnowo also have been strong performers.
 
Creighton, the No. 5 seed, moved up to a third-place finish in last year’s Championship. This year, the Bluejays own a school-record scoring average of 306.85 per round and have seven individual rounds below par. They won the Creighton Classic in October with freshman Katherine Lemke winning the tournament. The women on the current team are responsible for the top seven single-season scoring averages in the program for the past 20 years.  At last year’s championship, Gabby Tremblay tied for second.

Butler has been led by senior Ally Ross, who has finished in the top three of her last four tournaments, including a win at the Benbow Invitational. Her stroke average is 74.60, which ranks third individually. Senior Claire Edwards, who tied for sixth at last year’s Championship, owns a 77.27 average.