Women’s Golf Set to Start Season in Seattle

2026 LEADERSHIP & GOLF INVITATIONAL
Date	Monday-Tuesday, Sept. 14-15, 2026
Info Hub	EMU Notes (pdf)
Venue	Chambers Bay \| University Place, Wash. \| Par: 71 \| Yards: 5,972
Live	Live Scoring (Scoreboard)
Social Media	EMUWomensGolf (X) \| EMUWomensGolf (Instagram)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University women's golf team, coming off a Cinderella run at the 2026 NCAA Championships that saw the Eagles finish tied for third nationally, will lift the lid on its 2026-27 campaign, Sept. 14-15, when it travels to Chambers Bay Golf Club in University Place, Wash., to compete in the 2026 Leadership & Golf Invitational. Hosted by both Seattle and Washington, the event will feature 54 holes played over two days with 17 teams set to compete on the par-71, 5,972-yard course.

ON THE COURSE FOR EASTERN
Here are the Eagles that will compete in the 2026 Leadership & Golf Invitational:
1. Baiyok Sukterm (Y-4) • 71.9 avg. | Ended 2026 ranked #53 nationally; won the Silicon Valley Showcase
2. Karen Tsuru (Y-4) • 72.5 avg. | Transfer from Oregon; ranked as high as #26 in 2024-25 season with the Ducks
3. Constanza Quiroga (Y-2) • 74.9 avg. | Transfer from Troy; ended 2026 ranked #562 with the Trojans
4. Savannah de Bock (Y-4) • 71.6 avg. | Ended 2026 ranked #86; finished 12th at the NCAA Championships
5. Mariana Vega (Y-3) • 75.0 avg. | Played in the Tallahassee Regional and was the alternate at NCAAs
IN Laura Gorgees Baeta (Y-1) • First-year collegiate player making her debut for the Eagles

CHIP INS
» Eastern will compete in five fall events and six spring tournaments before heading into the postseason. Including the 2027 MAC Championships, the Eagles are set to play in nine different states, including California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawai'i, Kansas, Ohio, Texas, and Washington.
» This year's roster features six returning players from the team that tied for third at the NCAA Championships in 2026. That list includes Savannah de Bock, Juliana Go, Baiyok Sukterm, Erina Tan, Mariana Vega, and Matilde Zocchi.
» Two award winners are back for another season with Eastern, including Savannah de Bock, who was named All-MAC Second Team, MAC All-Tournament, and NCAA Top 15 Finisher; and Matilde Zocchi, who was named the MAC Freshman of the Year in 2025-26.
» The coaching staff is also back with Head Coach Josh Brewer and Assistant Coach Caterina Don returning for their third year leading the program. Brewer was the 2026 Golfweek Women's National Coach of the Year, the WGCA East Region Coach of the Year, and a WGCA National Coach of the Year finalist while Don was a finalist for the inaugural WGCA National Assistant Coach of the Year award.
» Eastern added three newcomers to the roster this year with one first-year player in Laura Gorgees Baeta from Spain and two transfers in Constanza Quiroga (Troy) and Karen Tsuru (Oregon).
» The Eagles will serve as co-hosts of two events later in the season, including the GameAbove Invitational and the MAC Championships. Eastern and USC will share hosting duties of the GAI in Somis, Calif., March 15-16, while the Eagles will work with the conference office to co-host the MAC event, April 25-27.

TOURNAMENT INFO: THE FACTS
The 2026 Leadership & Golf Invitational will take place Monday-Tuesday, Sept. 14-15, at Chambers Bay Golf Club in University Park, Wash. The 17-team event, co-hosted by Seattle and Washington, will see teams play 54 holes over two days with 8 a.m. PT (11 a.m. ET) shotgun starts both days. The event, which will be played on the par-71, 5,972-yard course, will have live scoring available on Scoreboard/Clippd.

TOURNAMENT INFO: TEAMS
Along with Eagles and hosts Seattle and Washington, the 17-team field will feature teams from 10 states stretching as far east as Michigan and south as Louisiana, Texas, and Arizona. The teams set to compete include Cal Poly, Colorado, EMU, Gonzaga, Grand Canyon, Little Rock, Long Beach State, Oregon State, San Francisco, San Jose State, Santa Clara, Seattle, SMU, Tulsa, UC Davis, ULM, and Washington.

RETURNING TO DEFEND
In the 2025 edition of the Leadership & Golf Invitational, Eastern Michigan collected its second consecutive winning sweep of the year as the Eagles took the team title by four strokes and Janae Leovao captured individual medalist honors by one stroke one week after she won the title at The Southern to help EMU to the team win. Last year, the Eagles finished first at 5-under 859 with Oregon State placing second at 1-under 863. Leovao won her second crown at 7-under 209 with Moa Anderson of San Jose State second at 6-under 210.

DEEP FIELD
Of the 17 teams in the field, eight were selected to compete in the NCAA events last year. Eastern Michigan (match play semifinals), SMU (tied for 12th), and Oregon State (missed fourth-round cut) all reached the final week of competition at the 2026 NCAA Championships while Cal Poly, Colorado, Little Rock, ULM, and Tulsa all competed in the regional round.

EASTERN IN THE RANKINGS
Heading into the tournament, only Eastern Michigan was ranked in the preseason Top 30 lists compiled by Golfweek and Golf Channel with the Eagles sitting No. 20 and No. 25, respectively, for their first national preseason rankings in program history. Looking back at the final (June 8) Scoreboard/Clippd rankings, 11 of the 17 teams in the field were among the top 100 last year, including No. 17 EMU, No. 18 SMU, No. 47 Oregon State, No. 50 Tulsa, No. 52 San Jose State, No. 53 Colorado, No. 62 ULM, No. 67 UC Davis, No. 79 Santa Clara, No. 91 Washington, and No. 99 Long Beach State.

BACK FOR MORE
Six players have returned to the team for the 2026-27 season, including Savannah de Bock, Julianna Go, Baiyok Sukterm, Erina Tan, Mariana Vega, and Matilde Zocchi with several of those players are coming off award-winning seasons, including All-MAC performers Sukterm (first-team) and de Bock (second-team), who both finished their year among the top 15 at the NCAA Championships. Sukterm was a three-time MAC Golfer of the Week in 2025-26 and won her first collegiate event as an NCAA Division I player when she took medalist honors at the Silicon Valley Showcase, March 30-31, in Millbrae, Calif., while de Bock was selected to the MAC All-Tournament Team after finishing third at the league event. Zocchi was the top ranked freshman in the league last year and was voted the MAC Freshman of the Year.

HELLO! MY NAME IS...
Three newcomers have joined the program this year with one first-year player and two transfers. The rookie is Laura Gorgees Baeta, who hails from Zaragoza, Spain, while the transfers feature Constanza Quiroga (Bolivia), who came to Ypsilanti after one year at Troy, and Karen Tsuru (Carlsbad, Calif.), who played the previous three years at Oregon and was the No. 11 recruit in the Class of 2023.

FAMILY MATTERS
For the second consecutive year, Eastern Michigan golf will feature family ties as transfer Constanza Quiroga will play for the women's program while her younger brother, Vicente Quiroga, joined the men's team as a first-year player this season. Last year, the women's team featured twins Janae Leovao and Jasmine Leovao.

STRONG COACHING
The coaching staff remains unchanged with Josh Brewer back for his third year at the helm of the program and Caterina Don back for her third year as his assistant coach. The duo was highly regarded by their peers in 2025-26 as each earned selections for postseason honors. Brewer was named the Golfweek Women's National Coach of the Year and the WGCA East Region Coach of the Year while also being named a finalist for the WGCA National Coach of the Year award with Don earning a finalist spot on the inaugural WGCA National Assistant Coach of the Year list. The awards earned by both marked the first in the history of the program.

FAMILIAR START
The Eagles will play in many of the same tournaments in 2026-27 that they played in 2025-26, including the first four of this year's slate mirroring a similar start to last year. After playing in The Southern last year, the team embarked on the same four events the Eagles will play this fall, including the Leadership & Golf Invitational (Sept. 14-15), the Golfweek Red Sky Classic (Sept. 21-23), the Oklahoma Intercollegiate (Oct. 5-6), and the Rainbow Wahine Invitational (Oct. 19-21). Last year, in those same events, the Eagles finished 1st, tied for seventh, tied for second, and fourth, respectively, to cap their fall slate. Following the East Lake Cup and the winter break, the Eagles will play six more spring events with four being familiar territory, including return visits to the Alice & John Wallace Golf Classic (Feb. 13-15), the GameAbove Invitational (March 15-16), and the Florida State Match Up (March 21-22), while also playing in the Gators Invitational (March 6-7), an event EMU competed in during the 2024-25 season.

EAST LAKE CUP
New to the schedule this fall is the East Lake Cup, a three-day event held at the East Lake Club in Atlanta, Ga., and featured four of the top finishers from the previous year's NCAA Championships on the women's and men's side. Entering its 12th year, the East Lake Cup will see a women's field including national runner-up USC, third-place finishers EMU and Arkansas, and fifth-place finisher Oklahoma State while the men's teams include champion Auburn, runner-up UCLA, and third-place finishers Arizona and Oklahoma State. The format will see each team play one round of stroke play, Oct. 26, to determine team seeding with the first round of match play taking place Oct. 27 pitting No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3. The final day, Oct. 27, will see the winning teams meet in the final with the remaining two teams meeting in the consolation final for third place.

HAPPY TO HOST
Eastern is set to serve as the co-host for two events this year, including the GameAbove Invitational and the MAC Championships. The GameAbove Invitational will see EMU and USC return as hosts for the second-annual event with teams competing at Saticoy Country Club in Somis, Calif., March 15-16. The Eagles will also serve as the co-host for the MAC Championships, which will return to the Fazio Course at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, April 25-27.

CINDERELLA STORY
Historic. Magical. A Cinderella Story.

It is rare when the entirety of an athletic season can be summed up in so few words. For EMU, those words were fitting for a 2025-26 campaign that saw the Eagles enter the season with momentum and quickly established themselves as one of the nation's top programs.

Eastern opened the campaign with consecutive tournament championships at The Southern and the Leadership & Golf Invitational before adding a third team title at the Silicon Valley Showcase in the spring. The three victories marked the program's most tournament wins in a season since 2011-12 and represented another major step in the program's rapid ascent under Josh Brewer. Individual success accompanied the team's achievements.

Janae Leovao captured medalist honors at both The Southern and the Leadership & Golf Invitational, while Baiyok Sukterm claimed medalist honors at the Silicon Valley Showcase. The accomplishments marked the first time since 2007-08 that Eastern golfers earned three individual tournament titles in a single season.

The Eagles continued their rise throughout the spring and reached No. 19 in the national rankings before finishing second at the Mid-American Conference Championships, their best conference finish since 2015. That success positioned Eastern for another historic milestone. The Eagles then earned the program's first NCAA Regional selection and traveled to Tallahassee as the No. 5 seed. Eastern rose to the occasion, finishing fourth and securing the first NCAA Championship berth in school history. The story only grew more remarkable from there.

Competing against the nation's best at Omni La Costa Resort in California, Eastern advanced through stroke play and made the 15-team cut after three rounds. The Eagles then produced the lowest round of the day during the fourth round, firing a 4-under-par 284 to move into the top eight and qualify for match play.

In match play, Eastern stunned fourth-seeded and third-ranked Texas in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual national champion Stanford in the semifinals. When the final putt dropped, Eastern Michigan stood tied for third nationally.

The accomplishment completed a remarkable two-year climb of 223 spots in the national rankings and established the Eagles as one of the premier programs in collegiate golf.

THAT'S A FIRST • PART I
The Eagles' run at the national tournament not only turned heads throughout the golf world but also helped Eastern etch its name into the history books in numerous ways. When comparing the run to other teams in the Mid-American Conference (EMU vs. Kent State) and the Mitten State (Michigan and Michigan State included), the fifth-place finish for Eastern marked the best showing in MAC history, surpassing the seventh-place finish Kent State produced in 2018, while also breaking the record for a Michigan school after Michigan State finished tied for ninth in 2013. Additionally, the Eagles are only the second NCAA Division I program from the state of Michigan to reach match play.

THAT'S A FIRST • PART II
Janae Leovao saw her final collegiate season in 2025-26 end with countless awards and smiles to last a lifetime. On the course, she won her first two collegiate titles as she won the first two events of the season, The Southern and the Leadership & Golf Invitational, before playing a major role in the team earning its first appearance in the NCAA Regionals and the NCAA Championships. After defying the odds, the Eagles moved even further than anyone imagined as they not only competed in NCAA match play but won. In that victory, Leovao was the catalyst as the Eagle, ranked 55th nationally, scored a massive 5&4 victory over No. 1 Farah O'Keefe, who one day earlier won the medalist honor at the national tournament. When the dust settled, Leovao moved up to No. 46 in the final rankings and became the first All-American in program history as she was named to the Golfweek All-American Third Team and the WGCA All-American Honorable Mention squad.

FANTASTIC FACILITIES
The GameAbove Golf Performance Center opened its doors Jan. 16, 2024, for the men's and women's golf teams to utilize for their preparations each season. The two-story facility, perched elegantly overlooking the 18th green and Ford Lake, was made possible through an $8 million gift from GameAbove. The facility stands as a testament to EMU's commitment to excellence in collegiate golf. This state-of-the-art training complex, spanning 13,000 square feet, is designed to propel the Eastern men's and women's golf teams to new heights of success. With locker rooms, meeting spaces, indoor putting and chipping areas, and cutting-edge simulators, the facility provides an unparalleled training environment for all elements of the game.

The building features a dedicated practice range, spanning 6,619 square feet, which offers student-athletes the opportunity to hone their skills with targeted training sessions. A specialized area covering 5,383 square feet has been designated for chipping and putting, ensuring that every aspect of the game is meticulously addressed in the training regimen. Additionally, the inclusion of two TrackMan 4 Simulators, totaling 1,974 square feet, adds a cutting-edge dimension to the training experience. These simulators bring the outdoor game indoors, allowing for precision training regardless of external conditions.

ON THE HORIZON
Eastern is back on the course next week in Wolcott, Colo., when it competes in the Golfweek Red Sky Classic, Sept. 21-23, at Red Sky Ranch and Golf Club. The three-day tournament will feature 20 teams, including six appearing in the preseason Golfweek Top 30 in No. 2 USC, No. 5 Texas A&M, No. 14 Pepperdine, No. 16 LSU, No. 20 EMU, and No. 30 Arizona.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Savannah de Bock

Julianna Go

Laura Gorgees Baeta

Janae Leovao

Jasmine Leovao

Constanza Quiroga

Baiyok Sukterm

Erina Tan

Karen Tsuru

Mariana Vega

Matilde Zocchi

Eastern Michigan Athletics