MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The 5th annual West Virginia High School Girls Invitational Golf Championship will return to Mingo Bottom Golf Club in Elizabeth on Tuesday, September 6. Golfers will be split into two divisions. The Championship Division will be an 18-hole competition while the Open Division will consist of 9 holes.
Cabell Midland’s Taylor Sargent is a two-time winner of the event and she returns to the field this year. Sargent will compete in the 1 p.m. group on the No. 1 tee. She is paired with Hurricane’s Savannah Hawkins (2022 WVGA Junior Amateur Champion), Westside’s Kerri-Anne Cook (2022 WVGA Junior Match Play Champion) and Roane County’s Emerson Simons.
“When we started this tournament, we had 50 girls and we were thrilled with that. But now, we are steady at an average of 75 participants every year. So we are real happy with the numbers and we are real happy with the quality of the field. This year, of our eight All-Tournament golfers from last year, three graduated and five returned to compete again,” said WVSSAC Assistant Executive Director Wayne Ryan.
“Some of them travel from a long way. And we do it the day after the holiday for that reason. If they want to travel the day before, it makes it easier and they don’t have to miss as much class time.”
36 schools are represented in the Championship Division. John Marshall has entered six golfers. James Monroe, George Washington and Herbert Hoover each have four golfers in the field.