BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University women's golf team will host its first tournament of the 2012-13 season this week as the Bulldogs welcome 10 teams to compete in the annual Samford Intercollegiate to be held at Hoover Country Club.
 
The 54-hole competition will be held Monday and Tuesday, and is slated to begin Monday with a shotgun start at 8:15 a.m. (CDT). Hoover Country Club is a highly-acclaimed 6,271-yard, par-72 golf course.
 
The field of this week's 2013 Samford Intercollegiate consists of the following teams:  Samford (host), Alabama State, Jackson State, Jacksonville State, Lamar, Louisiana-Monroe, Tennessee Tech, UAB, University of Mobile, University of New Orleans (UNO) and West Florida.
 
Samford heads into its fifth tournament of the spring season with a full head of steam after earning a fourth-place finish at the 2013 Pinehurst Challenge hosted by College of Charleston at the famed Pinehurst No. 6 Golf Course.
 
Last week, Samford concluded the two-day, 54-hole competition with a final team score of 916 (312-301-303). The Bulldogs' fourth-place finish marked Samford's fifth top-five performance of the 2012-13 campaign.
 
Individually, Samford was paced at the Pinehurst Challenge by junior standout Natalie Mitchell, who turned in an even-par 72. With her dominant performance, the Bulldogs' native of Germantown, Tenn., finished tied for fifth place out of 98 competitors in Pinehurst, N.C. Mitchell ended the tournament with a 54-hole score of 224 (75-77-72).
 
Senior Anna Heim also earned a top-15 finish for Samford with a three-round total of 227 (80-73-74).
 
Heim, the Bulldogs' talented native of Lafayette, La., was followed closely in Samford's overall scoring by teammates Bailey Gray (80-76-79=235), Kayla Turner (77-80-80=237) and Emily Stallings (88-75-78=241).
 
Last season, in the 2012 Samford Intercollegiate held at Limestone Springs Golf Course, the Bulldogs turned in a solid third-place finish. Samford carded a total team score of 306, just one stroke behind its previous performances of 305 which it recorded in both the first and second rounds.
 
The Bulldogs finished last year's two-day tournament with a final tally of 916 (305-305-306), a shot ahead of fourth-place Florida Southern and just two strokes behind first-place Troy (307-306-301=914).
 
In one of the most hotly-contested Samford Intercollegiates in history, only four strokes separated first place through fourth place. Troy, who entered the final round of competition in fifth place, charged back from 12 strokes down to win the championship title of the two-day event with a final score of 914 (307-306-301).
 
Middle Tennessee finished one stroke behind Troy in second place at 915 (298-305-312), while Samford concluded the tournament just two strokes behind in third place. Florida Southern claimed the fourth-place position at 917 (298-303-316), while Louisiana-Monroe rounded out the top five with a 36-hole mark of 922 (303-307-312).
 
Newberry College's Maria Luz Besio claimed the Individual Medalist honors of last year's talent-laden tournament, while Samford's Kayla Turner finished second and Troy's Haley Lawrence earned third-place accolades.
 
The 2013 Samford Intercollegiate will begin Monday with the opening two rounds of play (36 holes). The teams are then scheduled to play the final 18 holes Tuesday. Competition is slated to begin each day at 8:15 a.m. (CDT) at the Hoover Country Club.