Women’s Golf Set for Season Opener in Washington

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. (EMUEagles.com) — The new-look Eastern Michigan University women's golf team is set to open its 2024-25 season next week with the Eagles traveling to University Place, Wash., to compete in the 2024 Leadership & Golf Invitational at Chambers Bay, Monday-Tuesday, Sept. 16-17. The two-day event, which is hosted by Seattle University, will feature 16 teams and marks the first event for first-year Head Coach Josh Brewer.
 
QUOTING BREWER
"It is always exciting to start on new season," Head Coach Josh Brewer said. "The is one is even greater as the team we assembled has established a culture of wanting to learn and compete on a daily basis. We open our season on an iconic golf course against teams that have aspirations of winning the national championship. We also have that goal as well build Eastern golf into one of the country's best programs. We are looking forward to competing this week and learning more about ourselves."

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
The Leadership & Golf Invitational will feature two rounds played Monday, Sept. 16, with the third round played Tuesday, Sept. 17, at Chambers Bay, an 18-hole Scottish links course that has hosted numerous events, including 10 different U.S. Amateur competitions with the most recent being the 2023 U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball. The first day of action will consist of two rounds (36 holes) with the par-72 course measuring 6,093 yards while the second day (round three) will measure 6,130 yards. The shotgun start for all 16 teams will begin at 8 a.m. PT (11 a.m. ET) each day with live results available on Scoreboard.Clippd.com. The event also will be streamed live on GKLink with a subscription required to watch.

ON THE COURSE FOR EASTERN
Here is the lineup for the Eagles at the 2024 Leadership & Golf Invitational:
1. Savannah de Bock (So.)
2. Riley Kim (So.)
3. Mariana Vega (Fr.)
4. Julianna Go (So.)
5. Amaya Melendez (Sr.)
 
TAKING ON: LEADERSHIP & GOLF INVITATIONAL
Eastern Michigan will play against 15 other schools in the Leadership & Golf Invitational with the Eagles being the lone team not hailing from the Pacific and Mountain time zones. The field of teams including host Seattle, Cal Poly, Colorado, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Grand Canyon, Long Beach State, Oregon State, San Diego State, San Francisco, Santa Clara, UC Davis, USC, Washington, and Wyoming.
 
IN THE RANKINGS
According to the Sept. 6 release of the DI Mizuno WCGA Coaches Poll, three teams entered in this week's Leadership & Golf Invitational can be found in the rankings. The lone team in the field in the national top 25 is USC, who enters the season ranked No. 2. Both Eastern Michigan and Oregon State are receiving votes.

CHIP INS
• Savannah de Bock has been named to the 2024 ANNIKA Award Fall Watch List. One of 25 players selected nationally, de Bock is on the short list for the award that is considered the Heisman of women's collegiate golf.
• The current roster is comprised of six players, five of whom are new to the program this year. Riley Kim is the lone returning player and is joined by two transfers and three freshmen.
• The coaching staff is also new in 2024 as Josh Brewer takes over in Ypsilanti following 12 years at Georgia. Brewer has added two assistants to his staff, including Caterina Don, who was one of his top players at Georgia, and Anna Watson, a four-year member of the Eastern program, both of whom graduated in 2024.

LOGGING MILES
The 2024-25 season will see Eastern take part in tournaments in 10 different states that stretch from coast to coast, and beyond. During the fall season, the Eagles will compete in five events with trips to Washington, Colorado, Kansas, Hawaii, and Florida. In the spring, Eastern will take part in tournaments in Arizona, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, and Tennessee before playing twice in Indiana, including the MAC Championships, April 18-20, in Muncie. Eastern will look to add new destinations to the map in the postseason should it qualify for the NCAA Regionals (TBD sites) and the NCAA Championships, which will be held in California.
 
ON THE LIST: THE ANNIKA AWARD
The ANNIKA Award presented by Stifel is the highest award given annually in women's collegiate golf and is on the same level as the Heisman Trophy is to collegiate football. This year, Savannah De Bock has been included on the Fall Watch List and is the first player in EMU history to earn a selection to the ledger.
 
In her freshman season at Georgia, de Bock, who was a mid-year enrollee with the Bulldogs, was selected to the SEC All-Freshman team and ranked No. 83 nationally. Last fall, she finished fourth at the World Junior Girls Championships and compiled a 3-0 record to help Europe win the Junior Solheim Cup before joining the Bulldogs in January. In eight collegiate tournaments, she compiled a 73.95 stroke average with six par-or-better tallies in 22 rounds. She also notched four top 20 performances, with a best effort of fifth place at the San Diego State Classic before she finished 23rd at both the SEC Championships and the NCAA Auburn Regional.
 
Since joining the EMU program De Bock competed in the World Junior Championships, where she placed second by carding a two-under, 214 (72-73-69) on the Damai Indah Golf - PIK Course in Jakarta, Indonesia, June 12-14, 2024. It marked her third participation in the event as she placed fourth in 2023 and fifth in 2022. Her most recent finish added to her lengthy list of accomplished finishes that saw her climb to as high as 35th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) and 21st on the European Amateurs list. A participant in nearly 100 WAGR events between 2018-23, De Bock captured eight wins, 29 top five finishes, and 46 top 10 showings. Of those events, 13 were professional tournaments, including the 2022 and 2023 AIG Women's Open. The 2022 European Ladies' Amateur Champion, she has helped Team Europe to PING Junior Solheim Cup titles in both 2021 and 2023.
WELCOME TO YPSILANTI
The 2024-25 campaign will mark the first for Josh Brewer as the head coach of the Eastern Michigan women's golf program following a highly successful 12-year stint at the University of Georgia. The eighth full-time head coach in program history, Brewer guided the Bulldogs to 16 tournament wins, including three NCAA Regional crowns. His teams qualified for the NCAA Regional tournament 10 times and advanced to the NCAA Championships on four occasions. His journey into coaching began unexpectedly after a successful collegiate playing career at Indiana University, where he helped the Hoosiers to a Big Ten Conference Championship in 1998. Following a stint as a financial advisor, Brewer returned to coaching at his alma mater, contributing to the Hoosiers' NCAA success before moving on to Southern Cal, where he further honed his coaching skills.
 
Known for his extraordinary work ethic and determination, Brewer made an immediate impact at Indiana as a freshman in 1994. He won the Legends Invitational with a 214 (73-68-73), en route to the team's third-best average that season of 77.36. Playing as Indiana's No. 2 golfer, Brewer finished tied for second place in the 1998 Big Ten Championships, Indiana's most recent conference title. One year prior, he finished tied for eighth at the conference championship. During his sophomore year, Brewer competed in 38 rounds, including the 1996 NCAA Championships. The Brownstown, Ind., native graduated from IU in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in business management.