WACO, Texas - The Baylor women's golf team is headed to Palos Verdes, Calif., to open the 2015 spring season at the 20th-annual Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, hosted by Ohio State University.

The three-day, 54-hole event, which runs Sunday through Tuesday, is held at the par-71, 6,017-yard Palos Verdes Golf Club. The 16-team field includes Alabama (No. 25), Arizona (No. 13), Arizona State, Baylor, Duke (No. 5), Florida, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma State (No. 12), Pepperdine (No. 11), UCLA (No. 7), UNLV (No. 15), USC (No. 4), Wake Forest (No. 10) and Washington (No.1).

"I'm glad the weather's been a little better for us in preparing for this event, because the field in this event is a who's who in women's golf," head coach Jay Goble said. "It's always a field of really great teams."

Baylor is competing in the tournament for the third time in program history. Last year, the Lady Bears finished in seventh place, and Hayley Davis placed second overall with a score of 1-over 214.

Baylor's lineup for the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge features freshman Dylan Kim, junior Laura Lonardi, senior Hayley Davis, freshman Giovana Maymon and sophomore Louise Gateau-Chovelon. Kim will be making her BU debut after joining the program last month.

"Dylan's done great," Goble said. "I think she's going to be big time for us. It's going to help us out a lot. Obviously, she's a freshman and it's going to be totally different for her the first event we go to, but she's way too talented not to get it, and she'll be fine. "

Ten teams in the 16-team field are ranked in the top 25, including No. 1 Washington, No. 4 USC, No. 5 Duke, No. 7 UCLA, No. 10 Wake Forest, No. 11 Pepperdine, No. 12 Oklahoma State, No. 13 Arizona, No. 14 UNLV and No. 25 Alabama. Baylor is ranked No. 56 in the latest GolfStat rankings.

"If we can go out and beat a few or a lot of these teams, it's going to really help our girls and help their confidence," Goble said. "We're playing some great teams."

Tee times for Sunday's opening round begin on the first and 10th holes. Gateau-Chovelon will tee off first for the Lady Bears at the first hole at 9:12 a.m., and she'll be followed in 12-minute intervals by Maymon, Davis, Lonardi and Kim, respectively.

Live scoring for the tournament will be available at www.Golfstat.com. Follow the official twitter feed of Baylor women's golf, @BaylorWGolf, for updates throughout the season.