By DAN HOEHNE
daniel.hoehne@newssun.com
It is that time of year again.
As the calender turns its' page on the dawn of a new year, that means the prestigious Harder Hall Women's Invitational is right around the corner - teeing off Thursday and running through Sunday.
This 58th edition of the event will, as always, feature some of the top amatuer women golfers from literally all over the world and in a rare occurence, will see two past champions competing for a shot at a second tournament title.
2010 champion Kyle Roig, who survived a brutally cold, windy and rainy final round, including a playoff hole against new LPGA phenom Lexi Thompson, to claim her crown is back.
The Plantation American Heritage grad is now in her sophomore year as a member of the UCLA golf team and was selected to play for her native Puerto Rico in the 2012 World Amateur Team Championship.
Joining Roig in search of a second Harder Hall championship is 2011 champion Ashleigh Albrecht who set a course record with a 63 in the first round of her quest that year.
The University of Kentucky senior wrapped up her junior year with a scoring average of 76.22, the fifth lowest in program history.
She finished first individually at the Bettie Lou Evans Fall Invitational, and earned four top-10 finishes in just nine events.
Albrecht currently holds the Kentucky career record for par or better rounds with 18 through just three seasons.
So the field is already stacked from the top, and doesn't fall off much, if at all, with a virtual plethora of negative handicaps on the entries list.
Roig's -2.3 and Albrecht's -1.4 are impressive enough, but there are even lower handicaps out there, including a -4.2 for Shannon Aubert of Champions Gate and the -3s from Ali Cowan and Kelsey McDonald, of Midland, TX and Stirling, Scotland respectively.
Then there is the sister combo from Midgeville, GA, Ashlan (-3.0) and Taylor Ramsey (-3.1) who are likely to make some noise.
Players from Canada, the UK, Colombia, Mexico and China give the tournament its' usual international flair, while a handful of local talents will test their games against this top-flight field.
Those include Avon Park's Paige Moffat, Sebring's Savana Fisher, Kendall Griffin and Jude Stewart, as well as Erin Fitzpatrick from Wauchula and Athena Yang of Winter Haven.
The forecast looks to be clear and on the cool side, as far as playing conditions over the next few days.
But as any fan of the Harder Hall Women's Invitational knows, the competition will be heated throughout.
Wednesday, January 02, 2013 - www.newssun.com/WED-1-2-13-HarderHall