Virginia Tech women's golfer Emily Mahar will compete for Australia in the 2019 Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship, to be played November 7-9 at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, Texas.
The three-day event brings the best amateur golfers from 19 countries and six continents together to compete in an international team competition. The Spirit International will pair two female and two male amateurs from each country to compete for a chance at gold. The event is back for the first time since 2015, as the 2017 Spirit was cancelled due to Hurricane Harvey.
Mahar, a junior from Brisbane, Australia, leads the Hokies in scoring average this season at 69.40 and is the career scoring leader at Virginia Tech at 73.78. Mahar earned her first collegiate victory on Oct. 6, 2019, winning the Princess Anne Invitational.
She is currently ranked 25th in the Golfstat.com collegiate rankings and 26th in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. She is ranked 137th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, fifth-best among players from Australia. Earlier this year, she competed for Australia in the Astor Trophy event in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
The competition is a celebration of international goodwill through the game of golf. There is an opening and closing ceremony in addition to festive dinner parties throughout tournament week. Camp Olympia, one of the premier summer camps in the country, provides international village accommodations for the golfers, allowing them to mix and socialize after play.
The 2019 Spirit International features 76 competitors from 19 countries, representing six continents. It is a 54-hole four-ball stroke play competition, with three concurrent competition categories: international team, men's team and women's team. Gold, silver and bronze commemorative medals are awarded to the top finishers in each competition. 51 of the competitors have or are playing collegiately in the United States.
About The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship:
Seventy-eight competitors from 19 countries compete for gold medals in the 54-hole four-ball stroke play competition in The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship. Each country is represented by two women and two men amateur golfers. Previous Spirit International competitors who now are professionals on the LPGA and PGA TOUR include Jordan Spieth, Francesco Molinari, Brandt Snedeker, Jason Day, Martin Kaymer, Viktor Hovland, Lexi Thompson, Bronte Law, Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, Brooke Henderson and Maria Fassi. Spirit alumni have gone on to win more than 650 professional events, including 23 major championships. The Spirit Golf Association, a 501 (c) (3) charity that is dedicated to the promotion of amateur golf for the benefit of health-related causes, organizes and oversees the tournament along with the Texas Golf Association.
The Spirit Golf Association has contributed more than $12 million to its charitable activities: The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship and healthcare service providers such as Baylor College of Medicine Teen Health Clinics, Medical Bridges and The Immunization Partnership. In 2017, The Spirit Golf Association responded to the Hurricane Harvey relief efforts by directing funds to Harvey victims through the United Way, Houston Food Bank, KIPP, Yellowstone Academy and the Baylor College of Medicine Teen Health Clinics.
For more information about The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship visit TheSpiritGolf.com.
