Thursday, October 22
Stillwater, Okla. - Karsten Creek GC
Baylor
vs
Cowgirl Classic
SKY’S THE LIMIT
10/21/2020 3:23:00 PM | Women's Golf
#1 Women’s Golf Riding High After Winning 1st Two Tournaments
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Jay Goble has always been a believer in the philosophy that it's not how you start, it's how you finish.
That certainly proved true in 2014-15, when his Baylor women's golf team opened the season by finishing 21st out of 23 teams in the Cougar Classic in September and was 121st in the Golfweek national rankings. By the end of that year, the Bears had held up trophies as Big 12 and NCAA Regional champions before eventually losing to Stanford, 3-2, in a dramatic NCAA match play national championship that was decided on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff.
But, it's hard to ignore a historic start that has seen Baylor win its first two tournaments by a combined 42 strokes. After receiving a program-first No. 1 national ranking by Golfweek, the Bears will play in the 10-team Cowgirl Classic that starts Thursday at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.
"The thing that I challenge them is that you all are great and you can be as good as you want to be," Goble said. "Let's keep our foot on the gas and try to continue this great play and continue to work on our game and see how good we can get, because the sky is the limit for this group right now.
"As you can see, we have depth that we've never had before. For them to go out and play like they did on Texas' home course (at the Betsy Rawls Invitational), that just proves how great we are. I'm just encouraging them to realize how good they are and continue to work hard and see what we can accomplish this year."
Baylor's had great players in the past. Hannah Burke (2007-10) was the program's first three-time All-Big 12 pick, Hayley Davis and Dylan Kim both earned All-America honors on that 2015 team and Amy Lee was an All-American in 2017 when the Bears made it to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second time in three years.
And then in 2018, a first-semester freshman named Gurleen Kaur earned honorable mention All-America honors in helping the team tie for eighth at the NCAA Championships, losing a playoff with Arizona for the final spot in match play.
"Honestly, I didn't have a lot of goals going into that semester because it was my first semester in college, I'm still adapting," said Kaur, who recorded a 73.53-stroke average after entering college a semester early. "But over time, as I got further into the season, I realized, 'Hey, I'm just as good as all these girls in college, and all my preparation has really helped me to compete at the biggest level.' As the semester went on, my confidence increased."
Here's the crazy thing, and granted it's a small sample, but Baylor has seven players averaging 73.00 or better through the first two tournaments. That includes a quartet of freshmen in Britta Snyder (70.33), Nina Lang (71.00), Rosie Belsham (72.5) and Hannah Karg (73.0).
"This is the first time in my three years that it's been like this," said Kaur, who won medalist honors at each of the first two tournaments and is ranked No. 1 in the nation by Golfweek. "Before, it was always, 'Oh, we know who the top four are, but maybe the 5 could change.' Now, I feel like the 5, 6, 7 or 8 could be just as good as the 1 or 2."
At the end of that 2015 season, the No. 5 player's score counted just once in the team's last 11 rounds, including the Big 12 Championship, NCAA Regional and NCAA Championship.
This year, Lang and redshirt junior Diane Baillieux had top-10 finishes at the Betsy Rawls Invitational two weeks ago in Austin . . . and weren't even in the team lineup. Playing on Texas' home course, the Bears shot 22-under 842 and beat the fourth-ranked Longhorns by 11 strokes with the second-lowest score in the tournament's long history.
"That's led to some challenging conversations," Goble said, "because obviously two of my individuals finished in the top 10, so they are very much wanting to beat each other and compete for a spot in the next event. Two people that played great in Austin are not going to be able to go to Stillwater. So yeah, it's hard, but it's also a good problem to have because with everything going on with COVID, things can change instantly. And knowing that you have a few other players to back up someone else is really good."
With Lang and Karg both nursing injuries, it made Goble's decision a little easier. Baillieux, who was in the lineup for 26 of the team's 30 tournaments over the previous three seasons, will be back in the top five this week with Kaur, Snyder, Belsham and sixth-year senior Elodie Chapelet, who joined the team last year as a grad transfer from Lamar.
In the qualifying for the season-opening Schooner Fall Classic in Norman, Okla., which Baylor won by 31 strokes, Baillieux finished last among the eight competing golfers and didn't make the trip.
"Not being able to go was hard, but it also made me push myself harder," said Baillieux, who is third on the team and ninth nationally with a 70.67-stroke average. "Playing at Texas, I could kind of show what I could do and that I could actually be in the lineup. We all push each other. So, it was hard, but at the same time it was maybe a good lesson for me to get better."
That came to light in a three-round qualifier before the Betsy Rawls Invitational, when Baillieux "blew everybody out of the water," Goble said. "Even Gurleen and Elodie, she beat everybody."
"She was going down there to prove me wrong and that she needed to be in the lineup," Goble said. "Diane is one of our strongest players when she's in a good head space. When she gets in her competitive mode, she's tough to beat, she's a gamer."
As the lone holdovers from the 2017 team that tied for eighth at the NCAA Championships, nothing Kaur and Baillieux have done is all that surprising. But Kaur, who went into this season with the best career scoring average (72.95), is off to a historic start with the two medalist honors and a 68.0-stroke average that would shatter the single-season record set by Lee three years ago (72.17).
Goble said Kaur has controlled her emotions better over the last three years, but the redshirt junior says she's never been one to "just be like, 'Eh, whatever.'''
"I would agree that I've definitely gotten better at not being so dramatic in certain areas," she said. "I've really been trying to work on, OK, I've made a mistake, just forget about it and move on and take advantage of the opportunities that come."
The first grad transfer in program history, Chapelet earned honorable mention All-America honors in a COVID-shortened 2019-20 season with a 72.43 average that ranks as fourth-best in school history.
"We were super excited when Elodie decided to stay and play out her sixth year in college and finish her grad school degree," Goble said. "Honestly, she has not played that well since we've been back, but her not playing well is still a top-15 finish every week. And I think like the end of last year, once she hits her stride, nobody's more consistent than her."
Coming in as true freshmen, Snyder and Belsham have made an immediate impact with top-25 finishes in both of the first two tournaments. Snyder, who tied for eighth at the Betsy Rawls Invitational at 3-under 213, leads the team with 26 birdies and has recorded two of the Bears' six eagles.
"Britta was ranked the No. 1 recruit in America, so I expected her to be good," Goble said. "And to be honest, she could be better. She makes a ton of birdies, but she also seems to make more doubles than anybody else. I think if we can clean up a few things in her game, she's going to be competing for titles."
Snyder said if she can just manage her game a little better, "I'll eliminate those mistakes and the scores will be even lower."
In a unique format at the season-opening tournament at Oklahoma, the Baylor players were in the same fivesome for all three rounds, which only intensified the competitive nature of the team.
"I think playing as a fivesome with everyone on the team was such a special way to start off my college career," Snyder said. "The atmosphere we had going on the golf course, with everyone just rolling in birdies on top of each other, was something truly special that I'll never forget."
Baylor will join the host Oklahoma State team at this week's Cowgirl Classic at par-72 Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, along with BYU, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, North Texas, Oklahoma, TCU and Texas Tech.
After playing 36 holes on Thursday, the tournament will wrap up with the final round on Friday. Live scoring is available at golfstat.com.
Baylor Bear Insider
Jay Goble has always been a believer in the philosophy that it's not how you start, it's how you finish.
That certainly proved true in 2014-15, when his Baylor women's golf team opened the season by finishing 21st out of 23 teams in the Cougar Classic in September and was 121st in the Golfweek national rankings. By the end of that year, the Bears had held up trophies as Big 12 and NCAA Regional champions before eventually losing to Stanford, 3-2, in a dramatic NCAA match play national championship that was decided on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff.
But, it's hard to ignore a historic start that has seen Baylor win its first two tournaments by a combined 42 strokes. After receiving a program-first No. 1 national ranking by Golfweek, the Bears will play in the 10-team Cowgirl Classic that starts Thursday at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.
"The thing that I challenge them is that you all are great and you can be as good as you want to be," Goble said. "Let's keep our foot on the gas and try to continue this great play and continue to work on our game and see how good we can get, because the sky is the limit for this group right now.
"As you can see, we have depth that we've never had before. For them to go out and play like they did on Texas' home course (at the Betsy Rawls Invitational), that just proves how great we are. I'm just encouraging them to realize how good they are and continue to work hard and see what we can accomplish this year."
Baylor's had great players in the past. Hannah Burke (2007-10) was the program's first three-time All-Big 12 pick, Hayley Davis and Dylan Kim both earned All-America honors on that 2015 team and Amy Lee was an All-American in 2017 when the Bears made it to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second time in three years.
And then in 2018, a first-semester freshman named Gurleen Kaur earned honorable mention All-America honors in helping the team tie for eighth at the NCAA Championships, losing a playoff with Arizona for the final spot in match play.
"Honestly, I didn't have a lot of goals going into that semester because it was my first semester in college, I'm still adapting," said Kaur, who recorded a 73.53-stroke average after entering college a semester early. "But over time, as I got further into the season, I realized, 'Hey, I'm just as good as all these girls in college, and all my preparation has really helped me to compete at the biggest level.' As the semester went on, my confidence increased."
Here's the crazy thing, and granted it's a small sample, but Baylor has seven players averaging 73.00 or better through the first two tournaments. That includes a quartet of freshmen in Britta Snyder (70.33), Nina Lang (71.00), Rosie Belsham (72.5) and Hannah Karg (73.0).
"This is the first time in my three years that it's been like this," said Kaur, who won medalist honors at each of the first two tournaments and is ranked No. 1 in the nation by Golfweek. "Before, it was always, 'Oh, we know who the top four are, but maybe the 5 could change.' Now, I feel like the 5, 6, 7 or 8 could be just as good as the 1 or 2."
At the end of that 2015 season, the No. 5 player's score counted just once in the team's last 11 rounds, including the Big 12 Championship, NCAA Regional and NCAA Championship.
This year, Lang and redshirt junior Diane Baillieux had top-10 finishes at the Betsy Rawls Invitational two weeks ago in Austin . . . and weren't even in the team lineup. Playing on Texas' home course, the Bears shot 22-under 842 and beat the fourth-ranked Longhorns by 11 strokes with the second-lowest score in the tournament's long history.
"That's led to some challenging conversations," Goble said, "because obviously two of my individuals finished in the top 10, so they are very much wanting to beat each other and compete for a spot in the next event. Two people that played great in Austin are not going to be able to go to Stillwater. So yeah, it's hard, but it's also a good problem to have because with everything going on with COVID, things can change instantly. And knowing that you have a few other players to back up someone else is really good."
With Lang and Karg both nursing injuries, it made Goble's decision a little easier. Baillieux, who was in the lineup for 26 of the team's 30 tournaments over the previous three seasons, will be back in the top five this week with Kaur, Snyder, Belsham and sixth-year senior Elodie Chapelet, who joined the team last year as a grad transfer from Lamar.
In the qualifying for the season-opening Schooner Fall Classic in Norman, Okla., which Baylor won by 31 strokes, Baillieux finished last among the eight competing golfers and didn't make the trip.
"Not being able to go was hard, but it also made me push myself harder," said Baillieux, who is third on the team and ninth nationally with a 70.67-stroke average. "Playing at Texas, I could kind of show what I could do and that I could actually be in the lineup. We all push each other. So, it was hard, but at the same time it was maybe a good lesson for me to get better."
That came to light in a three-round qualifier before the Betsy Rawls Invitational, when Baillieux "blew everybody out of the water," Goble said. "Even Gurleen and Elodie, she beat everybody."
"She was going down there to prove me wrong and that she needed to be in the lineup," Goble said. "Diane is one of our strongest players when she's in a good head space. When she gets in her competitive mode, she's tough to beat, she's a gamer."
As the lone holdovers from the 2017 team that tied for eighth at the NCAA Championships, nothing Kaur and Baillieux have done is all that surprising. But Kaur, who went into this season with the best career scoring average (72.95), is off to a historic start with the two medalist honors and a 68.0-stroke average that would shatter the single-season record set by Lee three years ago (72.17).
Goble said Kaur has controlled her emotions better over the last three years, but the redshirt junior says she's never been one to "just be like, 'Eh, whatever.'''
"I would agree that I've definitely gotten better at not being so dramatic in certain areas," she said. "I've really been trying to work on, OK, I've made a mistake, just forget about it and move on and take advantage of the opportunities that come."
The first grad transfer in program history, Chapelet earned honorable mention All-America honors in a COVID-shortened 2019-20 season with a 72.43 average that ranks as fourth-best in school history.
"We were super excited when Elodie decided to stay and play out her sixth year in college and finish her grad school degree," Goble said. "Honestly, she has not played that well since we've been back, but her not playing well is still a top-15 finish every week. And I think like the end of last year, once she hits her stride, nobody's more consistent than her."
Coming in as true freshmen, Snyder and Belsham have made an immediate impact with top-25 finishes in both of the first two tournaments. Snyder, who tied for eighth at the Betsy Rawls Invitational at 3-under 213, leads the team with 26 birdies and has recorded two of the Bears' six eagles.
"Britta was ranked the No. 1 recruit in America, so I expected her to be good," Goble said. "And to be honest, she could be better. She makes a ton of birdies, but she also seems to make more doubles than anybody else. I think if we can clean up a few things in her game, she's going to be competing for titles."
Snyder said if she can just manage her game a little better, "I'll eliminate those mistakes and the scores will be even lower."
In a unique format at the season-opening tournament at Oklahoma, the Baylor players were in the same fivesome for all three rounds, which only intensified the competitive nature of the team.
"I think playing as a fivesome with everyone on the team was such a special way to start off my college career," Snyder said. "The atmosphere we had going on the golf course, with everyone just rolling in birdies on top of each other, was something truly special that I'll never forget."
Baylor will join the host Oklahoma State team at this week's Cowgirl Classic at par-72 Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, along with BYU, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, North Texas, Oklahoma, TCU and Texas Tech.
After playing 36 holes on Thursday, the tournament will wrap up with the final round on Friday. Live scoring is available at golfstat.com.
Players Mentioned
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