Women’s Golf Heads West For Jackrabbit Invitational

Josh Schwam

Live Scoring

Women's Golf 3/11/2022 12:00:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley Women's Golf will play in the state of Nevada for the first time in program history with the Braves taking part in South Dakota State's Jackrabbit Invitational in Boulder City, Nev. Monday and Tuesday.

After opening the 2022 Spring Season out West two weeks ago at the Rio Verde Invitational in Arizona, Bradley will once again head West for the Jackrabbit Invitational, which will be held Monday and Tuesday at the par-72 Boulder Creek Golf Course.

Play begins Monday at 10 a.m. (CDT) with a shotgun start to the opening two rounds and Tuesday's final round will also feature a 10 a.m. (CDT) shotgun start. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live scoring for all three rounds.

The 14-team field includes a pair of Missouri Valley Conference rivals in Missouri State and Northern Iowa. Middle Tennessee State is the highest ranked team schedule to compete, checking in at #98 in the latest Golfweek.com rankings, while UNLV (#40) will have three individuals in the field. Helping round out the competition are tournament-host South Dakota State along with Bucknell, Fairleigh Dickinson, Idaho State, LaSalle, Little Rock, North Dakota, Oklahoma City and Rutgers.

The Braves opened the spring campaign with a solid showing at the Rio Verde Invitational, where they tied for eighth in the 18-team field back in late February.

Senior Megan Welch has paced Bradley in two of the last three outings and has been among the team's top two finishers in all but one tournament this season. She tied for 28^th at Rio Verde and enters the Jackrabbit Invite with a team-best 74.89 stroke average. Welch owns a 74.44 average over her last nine rounds, shooting 75 or better 11 times this season.

Junior Mara Flaherty was one shot back of Welch at Rio Verde in a tie for 30^th and has been in the top three performers in five of six outings this year. Owning a career-best 76.44 average this season, Flaherty already has a career-best 14 rounds in the 70's this season.

Freshman Maria Perakis is the only Brave to place among the team's top three finishers in each outing this season. Her 75.11 stroke average is second on the team to Welch and is the best average by a freshman in the MVC in 2021-22.

Senior Elyse Emerzian will appear in the Bradley lineup for the first time since mid-September and will be playing in her first event since participating in the Bradley Coyote Creek Classic as an individual.

Making her first appearance of the 2021-22 campaign is sophomore Harriet Barker, who missed the fall season with an injury. Barker played in two events last year as a true freshman, with her low round of the year (76) coming in the second round of a duel against Southern Illinois.

Sophomore Vaijayanti Bharkhada will be in the field as an individual, taking part in her fourth tournament of the year. Bharkhada's last outing was at the Little Rock Golf Classic, where she opened the tournament with a career-best 74.

Bradley will have a two-week break from competition after the Jackrabbit Invite, before returning action March 28 & 29 in St. Charles, Mo., at the Diane Daugherty Invitational.

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