By Spencer Scheve, Athletic Communications and Media Intern
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics has officially announced the qualifiers for the 2017 NAIA Women's Golf National Championships. The 23rd annual event will take place at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., May 23-26.
First and second round pairings for the championships will be announced Friday by 3 p.m. CDT on www.NAIA.org.
The 156-player field consists of 18 automatic qualifying teams, which won their respective conference, independent or unaffiliated group tournament, 12 at-large berths and six individual qualifiers.
At-large teams were determined using the final regular-season Coaches' Top 25 Poll, announced earlier today. Click here to view the Top 25 Poll.
After winning back-to-back titles and its third overall championship last year, Keiser highlights the field with three returning first team All-Americans Elsa Westin, Rebecka Holmstrom and Caroline Retabi. Holmstrom ranks in the top 10 in multiple statistical categories this season including – average score (75.81), par-three scoring (3.18) and par-five scoring (5.05).
William Woods (Mo.) and SCAD Savannah (Ga.), the 2016 national co-runners-up, are back in the field after the Owls earned their 14th-straight American Midwest Conference title and SCAD Savannah claimed the No. 1 at-large bid.
The competition includes every team that finished in the top 10 at last year's championships: Keiser (Fla.) (No. 1), SCAD Savannah (No. 2), William Woods (No. 2), SCAD Atlanta (Ga.) (No. 4), Cumberlands (Ky.) (No. 4), Texas Wesleyan (No. 4), Oklahoma City (No. 7), Bellevue (Neb.) (No. 8), USC Beaufort (S.C.) (No. 8) and Dalton State (Ga.) (No. 10).
In addition to Keiser's three national titles, two other qualifying teams have claimed at least one red banner, including Oklahoma City's seven championships and British Columbia with four titles.
The six individual qualifiers include six automatic selections that won their conference tournament. To receive an individual automatic berth, a player must win her respective conference tournament or be an All-Tournament Team honoree from the previous year's national championships that did not qualify otherwise.
For more information on the 2017 NAIA Women's Golf National Championships, click here.
2017 Women's Golf National Championships Team Qualifiers (listed alphabetically)
| School |
Qualification |
| Bellevue (Neb.) |
North Star Athletic Association Tournament Champion |
| Briar Cliff (Iowa) |
Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
| British Columbia |
Association of Independents Tournament Champion |
| Campbellsville (Ky.) |
At-Large No. 4 |
| Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) |
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
| Cumberlands (Ky.) |
Mid-South Conference Tournament Champion |
| Cumberland (Tenn.) |
At-Large No. 11 |
| Dalton State (Ga.) |
Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
| Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) |
Unaffiliated Group – (California Pacific/ Golden State) Tournament Champion |
| Faulkner (Ala.) |
At-Large No. 9 |
| Indiana Tech |
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
| Keiser (Fla.) |
The Sun Conference Tournament Champion |
| Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
Frontier Conference Tournament Champion |
| Midway (Ky.) |
River States Conference Tournament Champion |
| Milligan (Tenn.) |
Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
| Northwestern Ohio |
At-Large No. 10 |
| Oklahoma City |
Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
| Oklahoma Wesleyan |
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
| Oregon Tech |
Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament Champion |
| SCAD Atlanta (Ga.) |
At-Large No. 7 |
| SCAD Savannah (Ga.) |
At-Large No. 1 |
| Southeastern (Fla.) |
At-Large No. 6 |
| Taylor (Ind.) |
Crossroads League Tournament Champion |
| Texas Wesleyan |
At-Large No. 3 |
| Thomas (Ga.) |
At-Large No. 8 |
| USC Beaufort (S.C.) |
At-Large No. 2 |
| Victoria (B.C.) |
At-Large No. 12 |
| William Carey (Miss.) |
At-Large No. 5 |
| William Penn (Iowa) |
Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
| William Woods (Mo.) |
American Midwest Conference Tournament Champion |
2017 Women's Golf National Championships Individual Qualifiers (listed alphabetically by conference)
| Morgan Reimier, Columbia (Mo.) |
American Midwest Conference Medalist |
| Marissa Singer, St. Francis (Ind.) |
Crossroads League Medalist |
| Gina Kowolchuk, Great Falls (Mont.) |
Frontier Conference Medalist |
| Amy Ahlers, Concordia (Neb.) |
Great Plains Athletic Conference Medalist |
| Kimberly Nelson, Grand View (Iowa) |
Heart of America Athletic Conference Medalist |
| Aspen Bryant, Bethany (Kan.) |
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Medalist |