The Briar Cliff women's golf team is set take on the 2023 NAIA Women's Golf National Championship field Tuesday at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois, on May 23-26. Their last time on the course, the Chargers were named the 2023 GPAC Team Champions and had three players finish in the top-10.
 
Tournament Schedule
The 2023 NAIA Women's Golf National Championship will be a 72-hole event spread across four days on May 23-26. The Chargers will tee off between 12:50-1:30 p.m. in the first round Tuesday, and between 7:50-8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
 
While the majority of the year's tournaments have been 36-holes, the Chargers are no strangers to extended events. They have played in three 54-hole meets at the Northwest Iowa National Invite, Bulldog Spring Invite at the GPAC Championships. Two of their last three events have been three-rounds where they placed second and first.
 
The Lineup
Briar Cliff has been led by the consistent play of Helene Getz Bergmo, who carries a 78.7 scoring average for the season thus far, a 3.03 stroke improvement from the season prior. Bergmo, coming off a tied for second place finish at the 2023 GPAC Championships and all-conference honors, has shot sub-80 in 13 rounds for the Chargers this season.
 
Frankie Valencia has been a consistent contributor for the Cliff, who is averaging 84.3 strokes per round this season and was an all-GPAC honoree. Valencia has finished in the top-10 in five events and has fired sub-80 scorecards in four rounds this season.
 
Grace Johanson carries an 86.3 stroke average, placing her in the third starting spot for the Chargers. Johanson has three top-10 finishes on the season, including a tied for seventh place finish at the GPAC Championships. She has carded one sub-80 round and has a 90% scoring round rate.
 
The Charger squad has also received solid rounds from Kelly Baade, who carries a scoring average of 88.09 in her sophomore season. Baade fired a season-low 80 in the second round of the Northwest National Invite.
 
Abbigale Miller rounds out the starting five for the Chargers this season with a 91.77 scoring average. Miller has two top-10 finishes on the season and a low round of 82 at the Siouxland Women's Invite back in September.
 
Chargers at the National Tournament
The Chargers will make their 11th appearance at the national tournament and first since the 2017 season. BC's best finish is third place which has happened twice (1995 and 1996). The 1995 tournament was the first-ever national tournament in women's golf and was hosted by Briar Cliff. The Chargers also hosted the 1994 NAIA Invitational, which was a trial run prior to the first National Championship. The Cliff has finished in the top 10 on four other occasions with a fifth-place finish in 1999, eighth-place in 1997 and 10th-place in 1998 and 2000.
 
About TPC Deere Run
TPC Deere Run's championship course was featured as one of America's 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses by Golf Digest, as well as ranked fifth in the state of Illinois by GolfWeek Magazine.