South Dakota opens the spring season in the south as they are set to compete in the Tulane Classic in New Orleans, Louisiana. The three-day event is being played at the English Turn Golf and Country Club. The course plays as a par 72 and covers 6,268 yards.
 
USD will see a tough field in this even with seven of the 18 teams ranked inside the top-100 of Golfstat rankings. Purdue is the highest-ranked team in this field at 48th in the country followed by host Tulane at 66.
 
Round one of the tournament begins on Sunday with tee-times beginning at 10:20 a.m. ET for the Coyotes. The starting times for the remaining two days will depend on the results of the previous round. The lineup for South Dakota includes Akari Hayashi as the No. 1 bag followed by Danica Badura, Emma Henningsson, Catie Nekola, and Molly Fossen.
 
South Dakota is coming off a tournament title at the Ozarks National Invite at the end of the fall season. The team recorded a 905 54-hole score in that tournament which is tied for third-best in team history. Hayashi ended the tournament tied for first place but claimed runner-up after a tiebreaker. She tied a career-best round with a two-under par 70 in the last round. Badura joined Hayashi in the top-10 with a tie for ninth place finish after a 227 three-round total.
 
South Dakota was picked to finish third in the Summit League preseason poll released in mid-January. The Coyotes were picked to finish behind reigning champion Denver and Oral Roberts. Hayashi was named a Golfer to Watch by the Summit League in addition.
 
Tournament: Tulane Classic Presented by Chad Brownstein
Dates: February 12-14
Host: Tulane
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Course: English Turn Golf and Country Club
Course Par / Yardage: Par 72 / 6,268 yards
Tournament Field (18): Arkansas State, Boston College, Cal Poly, Central Arkansas, Charleston Southern, Chattanooga, Howard, Incarnate Word, Iowa, Memphis, Missouri State, Purdue, Rutgers, South Dakota, Southern Mississippi, Texas El Paso, Tulane, Wichita State