WEST NEWTON, Mass. --- Former Tusculum University golfer Ciara Rattana Smith has qualified to compete at the 2024 USGA Women's Mid-Amateur, which will be held Sep. 7-12 at Brae Burn Country Club in West Newton, Massachusetts.

Smith was informed earlier this month of being named as a first alternate for the USGA Mid-Amateur and was notified this week she would be in the 132-player field. Two 18-hole rounds of stroke play will be held on Sep. 7-8 with the top-64 players moving onto match starting on Sep. 9. The Round of 32 / Round of 16 match play will be conducted on Sep. 10. On Sep. 11, quarterfinal and semifinal match play will be played to narrow the field down to two with the national championship match on Sep. 12.

The USGA Mid-Amateur is open to any female golfer who has reached her 25^th birthday by Sep. 7, 2024 and whose Handicap Index does not exceed 9.4. National qualifying was held at 27 sites nationally over the last two months. She qualified at the Tennessee Grasslands Golf and Country Club-Fairvue Lakes Course in Gallatin.

Smith played her collegiate golf at Tusculum from 2014-2018 where she posted a 77.68 stroke average which is currently the sixth lowest in program history and was ranked second at the time of her graduation in 2018. She played in a school-record 86.5 rounds during her career where she posted 32 finishes in the top-20 which are the second-most by a Pioneer. Her 21 top-10 finishes are listed second in TU history which includes a dozen top-five performances (3^rd most in school history).

Smith is the only four-time All-South Atlantic Conference selection in program history, including first team laurels on three occasions. She was named the SAC Freshman of the Year in 2015 and was a NCAA Division II Regional Tournament Participant in 2017. She was named a WGCA All-America Scholar four times and led Tusculum to six team tournament titles.

Smith carded a 76.74 scoring average (8^th in TU history) in her senior campaign (2017-18) which included winning the 2018 Agnes McAmis Memorial.

Smith, a native of Western Springs, Illinois, graduated from Tusculum in 2018 with her Bachelor of Science degree while majoring in economics, international business administration. She is married to former Pioneer golfer Taylor Smith '17, who will be serving as her caddy during her national championship run.

The couple resides in Chattanooga, Tennessee.