Celebrating 28 years of golf
This unique collegiate tournament was founded by Cathy (Hanlon) Marino, a member of the PVGC Hall of Fame, Therese Hession, former Director of Golf at The Ohio State University, and longtime PVGC member Sid Croft. Cathy and Therese were teammates on the Southern Methodist University women’s golf team, which won the National Championship in 1979, and fellow competitors on the LPGA. In 1995, while Marino was head coach at SMU and Hession was in her third year at Ohio State, they developed the idea of a ladies’ collegiate event in Southern California early in the year to kick off the 1996 spring season.
The tournament derives its name, Regional Challenge, because each year we invite the top-rated teams from across the country and include a regional competition, in which three schools—one from the East, Mid-West, and West—are teamed and the lowest scoring three teams receive an automatic invitation to the following year’s tournament.
The Ohio State University has been the Host School for this event since its inception in 1996. Lisa Strom, current OSU head coach, is the Tournament Director.
Past Winners
Individual Winners
Team Winners
History of PVGC
Palos Verdes Golf Club was built as part of the Palos Verdes Project beginning in 1921. New York banker Frank Vanderlip took control of the Project in 1923. The Project was the first development on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and included homes, the golf course, tennis club, beach club and riding stables. The clubhouse was one of the first buildings built on the Peninsula. The golf course opened on November 15, 1924. This year, 2024, marks the 100th anniversary of the golf club.
The course was designed and built by the renowned team of William P. “Billy” Bell and George C. Thomas and is an example of the “Golden Age” of golf course design. Other designs by Bell and Thomas include Riviera Country Club, the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club, and Bell-Aire Country Club. In recent years, restoration and design improvements have been overseen by golf course architect Todd Ekenrode, who has also done renovations at courses such as Brentwood Country Club, Hacienda Golf Club, Hillcrest Country Club and Virginia Country Club.
Palos Verdes Golf Club has hosted the Therese Hession Regional Challenge since 1996. Past individual champions include Natalie Gulbis and Lorena Ochoa of the University of Arizona, Brittany Lang of Duke University, and Stanford University's Andrea Lee and Rose Zhang.
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Host Families
Throughout the history of this event host families have contributed to the success of the tournament. Host families serve as a liaison between their school and the Palos Verdes Golf Club. They offer suggestions for local dining, nearby health clinics in case of an illness, directions to local universities when student athletes need to take a test in a controlled environment, or to local golf shops when a broken or forgotten golf club needs to be replaced.
In addition, host families often invite their team's student athletes and coaches to their home for a homecooked meal in a relaxed and casual environment. In cases where schools and players have participated in the tournament over several years strong friendships have developed. The host family program helps to make this tournament a unique event in the world of college golf.
The 2025 Therese Hession Regional Challenge is sponsored by
