WACO, Texas -- The Baylor women's golf team is headed to Chapel Hill, N.C., to compete in the 40th-annual Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational. The three-day, 54-hole tournament begins Friday at North Carolina's Finley Golf Course.

Baylor, ranked No. 43 in the latest Golfweek rankings, will make its third appearance in the Tar Heel Invitational. BU finished tied for second place at the 2012 event and finished in 18th place the following year. The Lady Bears are coming off a 12th-place finish at the Mason Rudolph Championship in their season-opening tournament.

"The golf course has had a tremendous amount of rain and flooding, so we don't know what to expect with the course conditions, but the weather is supposed to be nice this week," head coach Jay Goble said. "It's a golf course that we've been to before, and we've had some success there, but only two of our current players have played there. We have a young lineup going out there, and it's a good chance for us to get some experience and get moving forward for the rest of the year."

The 18-team field for this weekend includes 13 teams ranked in Golfweek's top-50 rankings. In addition to No. 43 Baylor and host North Carolina, the field includes No. 7 Duke, No. 39 North Carolina State, No. 16 Tennessee, No. 12 Virginia, No. 40 Wake Forest, No. 33 Oregon, No. 2 Alabama, No. 25 LSU, No. 27 Louisville, No. 38 Auburn, No. 32 South Carolina and No. 4 Arkansas. Kentucky, Michigan State, Rollins and UNC-Wilmington are also competing.

Baylor's lineup features senior Laura Lonardi, juniors Maggie Beth Byers and Louise Gateau-Chovelon and sophomores Giovana Maymon and Lauren Whyte.

The UNC Finley Golf Course features a par 72, 6,379-yard layout. Friday's first round begins at 7:51 a.m. CT, but Whyte has the Bears' first tee time at 9:39 a.m. She'll be followed in nine-minute intervals by Maymon, Gateau-Chovelon, Byers and Lonardi, respectively. Saturday's second round will also feature tee times beginning at 7:51 a.m., and Sunday's final round will be a shotgun start.

Live scoring throughout the tournament is available at www.golfstat.com. Follow the team on Twitter, @BaylorWGolf, for updates throughout the season.