ELIZABETHTOWN, KY (July 17, 2023) – For the first time, Elizabethtown Country Club is set and ready to identify the best female golfer in Kentucky. The course has had the opportunity to host numerous prestigious events in recent years, such as the Women's State Amateur four times since 2015, and the Women's Senior Amateur in 2017 and 2022. 

The field for the 27^th edition of the Women’s State Open contains 32 amateurs and 6 professionals, two of which are previous tournament winners in Lydia Gumm and Ke'Asha Phillips. On the amateur side, many competitors are notable junior golfers in the state, or were and have since gone on to play collegiately here in Kentucky and around the country. 

Below is a list of notable players in the field and their highlights. 

• Lydia Gumm: (8:20 a.m. on Monday) – Radcliff's Gumm, one of the most prolific players in Kentucky golf history, returns to the event for the first time since her 2016 playoff victory. After a stellar collegiate career at Florida State which included two All-ACC honors and two final NCAA Championship appearances, Gumm has turned to coaching. Following a brief stint as the volunteer assistant coach at Louisville in 2018, she headed south to work as the Assistant Coach for the University of Houston. She was named the Carolyn Macow Leatherwood Head Coach in 2021 and has seen a great deal of success for her team in recent years. The winner of multiple Miss Kentucky Golf titles seeks her second event win.
• Ke'Asha Phillips (8:50 a.m. on Monday) – Phillips returns this year as the defending champion of the title after her three-shot win at Bellefonte Country Club. Phillips, from Owensboro, has become a tournament mainstay over the years, with 2023 serving as her first year competing as a professional. Phillips received numerous accolades as a high school golfer for Owensboro High School, including regional wins her junior and senior years and first-team all-state honors her senior year. She went on to play for Xavier University, playing in a handful of tournaments each year during her time as a Musketeer. A win would make her just the third player in tournament history to win back-to-back titles. 
• Alaina Schmitt (9:20 a.m. on Monday) Schmitt enters the tournament after claiming the Kentucky Women's Amateur title with a 3&2 win on June 28th at Bowling Green Country Club. Schmitt, who plays for Bellarmine University, took an atypical route to playing college golf. Despite never playing in high school and spending her freshman year at Murray State where she was not on the team, she quickly became the best player at Bellarmine. Her accolades playing for the Knights include being named the ASUN Golfer of the Week on March 23rd and various academic achievements. She returns to play for Bellarmine in the fall as a graduate student.

The host site, Elizabethtown Country Club, is perhaps best known for its strikingly different front and back nines. Designed by Louis Miller, the front nine features more water and trees, while the back is more open but considerably longer. Head Golf Professional Corey Stith remarks that most members consider the 12th hole the most difficult due to a pond in the middle of the fairway and bunkers protecting the green. The differences between the two nines will certainly be interesting to keep in mind as the scores start to come in.

Click here to view first-round tee times