GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University women's golf team will make its 2022-23 debut as the Pioneers travel to Bristol for the King University Invitational.
The Pioneers are the defending champions of this event after posting a 14-stroke victory a year ago. The King Tournament will be the season debut for the Pioneers with first-year head coach Hunter Chandley at the helm.
Junior Nilubol Panno is slated to anchor this year's team after leading the Black & Orange last season with her 77.74 stroke average, which was the 13th lowest in program history and the second lowest by a TU sophomore. She logged four top-10 finishes including a pair of tournament medals including last year's individual title at the King Invitational.
Panno, a native of Phuket, Thailand, enters this season with a career 77.61 scoring average, which is third in the TU record book. She has amassed five top-5 finishes in her career and is one of only three players to record three or more medalist victories.
Junior Adrienne O'Brien is the only other returning letter-winner from last year's club. The Salem, South Carolina native finished 12th at last year's Agnes McAmis Memorial and ended the season with a 78.5 scoring average. O'Brien played the 2020-21 season at Southern Wesleyan University where she logged action in seven events and posted an 82.69 average, which included an 11th place showing at the Conference Carolinas Championship.
Emilie Bergh-Jacobsen joins the Tusculum program this year after transferring from Arkansas-Monticello. The played two seasons at the NCAA Division II program where she posted six finishes in the top-25. She posted an 83.80 average with four top-20 performances including twice in the top-10 for the product of Baerum, Akershus, Norway.
This year's team includes a pair of freshmen in Lindsay Self and Reagan Padilla.
Padilla was a two-time All-County standout at Gallatin (Tenn.) High School. She earned team most valuable player honors in 2021 while helping Gallatin to win both the District and Region titles.
Self, a product of Lake City, Florida, was her team's most valuable player at Suwannee High School. She helped her prep club to four district championships as she was a four-year letter-winner and a Scholar Athlete.
After the King Tournament, the Pioneers will be at the Patsy Rendleman Invitational, Oct. 3-4 in Salisbury, North Carolina.
