Sunday, February 20
Melbourne, Fla. - Duran GC
Baylor
at
Moon Golf Invitational
No. 15 WGOLF Resumes Spring Season at Moon Golf Invitational
2/19/2022 9:44:00 AM | Women's Golf
The Bears are one of nine top-25 teams in the field
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Highlighted by a national runner-up in 2015, Baylor women's golf has recorded three top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships in the last seven years, but Jay Goble says this is "on paper, the best team I've ever had."
While he wants the 15th-ranked Bears to be "playing our best golf in April and May," they will get an early test at the Moon Golf Invitational that begins Sunday at Suntree Country Club in Melbourne, Fla. The elite 15-team field includes five top-10 and nine top-25 teams, led by third-ranked South Carolina.
"We want the best fields in every single tournament," said senior Gurleen Kaur, "so I'm excited."
Baylor knocked off the rust from the winter break at The Desert Match Play last month in Scottsdale, Ariz., but this is the team's first stroke-play event of the spring. The Bears had three top-3 finishes in the fall, including winning the Rainbow Wahine Invitational in October.
"We knew that we were getting off to a little later start than we usually do by starting at the end of February," Goble said. "So, we wanted to make sure that we were getting ready as well as we could for the season. But, a big part of that was going to Grayhawk (Golf Club) and making sure we get as many looks on that golf course as we can."
Grayhawk is the site of the next two NCAA Championships, including this year's event that will be held May 20-25 at one of the premier courses in the country.
"We played match play out in Arizona for the most part," Kaur said, "so it will be nice to get back to stroke-play golf and what our normal schedule looks like."
Through seven rounds of qualifying, Goble is taking a lineup that includes four of the five players that helped Baylor win the Hawaii tournament by 30 strokes. Kaur, Britta Snyder and Rosie Belsham finished 1-2-3 individually at the Rainbow Wahine and will be joined by freshman Antonia Matte and junior Hannah Karg.
"They're a pretty confident group," Goble said. "They're pretty easy to travel with, they have played a lot of tournament golf together and they're friends. But, they're also very competitive amongst the group. They want to play well against their friends and they want to beat them, so there's a healthy competition within that group. I love the five we're taking."
Unlike her freshman and sophomore years, when "we knew who was going to go the tournament," Kaur said there is great competition for the five spots in the lineup. Grad transfer Addie Baggerly from Florida played in The Desert Match Play, but didn't make the top five for this tournament, while freshman BaiMai Seema was in the lineup and had a top-15 finish in Hawaii.
"Everyone's so competitive in qualifying that we all know we're a strong team," Belsham said. "It's like, 'She's practice for an hour. OK, I'm going to do an hour and a half.' Everyone wants to beat everyone on the team, so it gets everyone's game in good shape."
Joining Baylor, South Carolina and the host Louisville team are sixth-ranked Arkansas, No. 7 Florida, No. 8 Virginia and ninth-ranked Alabama. Rounding out the field are Auburn (17th), Duke (19th), LSU (21st), UCF (30th), Florida State (31st), Miami (32nd), North Carolina (43rd) and Augusta (54th).
This is a much stronger field than any of the NCAA regionals in May, when Baylor tries to make it to the NCAA Championship for the sixth time in 11 years under Goble. Last year's team won a Big 12-record five-consecutive tournaments and made it back to the NCAA Championships, but missed match play with a 14th-place finish.
"This definitely a top-eight team if we get it all clicking together at the right time," said Goble, referring to the top eight that qualify for match play. "It's all about timing and when you're playing your best golf. This is on paper, the best team I've ever had, top to bottom. We have depth that we've never had before, throughout the lineup. If we're playing our best golf in April and May, we're going to be tough."
The 54-hole tournament continues through Tuesday, with live scoring available at golfstat.com.
MELBOURNE, Fla. – Baylor women's golf will play its first stroke-play event of the spring beginning Sunday at the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida.
The Bears played The Desert Match Play in January to knock some rust off, but head coach Jay Goble wants Sunday's opening round to start BU's build to a long postseason.
"My expectations are high," Goble said. "I think that we have a good team, and we're taking a good team out there, but at the end of the day, I want us to get better from here. I want us to go out there and see where we need to improve and move forward from there, getting ready for April and May."
Senior Gurleen Kaur has solidified herself as a fixture at the top of the Bears' lineup, but she has seen fierce competition for the other four spots in this lineup.
"We played seven qualifying rounds for our first event, and it's just been really tight," she said. "The competition is good. My freshman and sophomore year — for the most part — we knew who was going to go to the tournament. But this year, the 4-5-6-7 spots in our lineup have been different."
Kaur will tee off in the anchor position at 9:50 a.m. CT on Sunday, following Rosie Belsham at 9:40 a.m. in the No. 2 spot. Belsham feels this team is ready for the first stroke-play event of the spring season.
"We've all grinded really hard for this event," Belsham said. "I think everyone sees this as the first event of the season, and I think we're very confident. Everyone is so competitive in qualifying, everyone knows we're a strong team, and I think everyone expects that we can win."
After an impressive fall season, where she shot par or better in five of her first six collegiate rounds, freshman Antonia Matte will play out of the No. 3 spot. She will look for a solid start to the spring season when she tees off at 9:30 a.m.
Britta Snyder is coming off a second-place finish in her last stroke-play event, the Rainbow Wahine Invitational. She was second on the team with seven rounds at par or better in the fall, and she will aim to carry that over to the spring when she tees off at 9:20 a.m.
Hannah Karg will make her first start in the lineup since late September at the Schooner Fall Classic. She will lead things off for the Bears at 9:10 a.m.
Live stats will be available at Golfstat.com. For more information on Baylor Women's Golf, follow @BaylorWGolf on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Baylor Bear Insider
Highlighted by a national runner-up in 2015, Baylor women's golf has recorded three top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships in the last seven years, but Jay Goble says this is "on paper, the best team I've ever had."
While he wants the 15th-ranked Bears to be "playing our best golf in April and May," they will get an early test at the Moon Golf Invitational that begins Sunday at Suntree Country Club in Melbourne, Fla. The elite 15-team field includes five top-10 and nine top-25 teams, led by third-ranked South Carolina.
"We want the best fields in every single tournament," said senior Gurleen Kaur, "so I'm excited."
Baylor knocked off the rust from the winter break at The Desert Match Play last month in Scottsdale, Ariz., but this is the team's first stroke-play event of the spring. The Bears had three top-3 finishes in the fall, including winning the Rainbow Wahine Invitational in October.
"We knew that we were getting off to a little later start than we usually do by starting at the end of February," Goble said. "So, we wanted to make sure that we were getting ready as well as we could for the season. But, a big part of that was going to Grayhawk (Golf Club) and making sure we get as many looks on that golf course as we can."
Grayhawk is the site of the next two NCAA Championships, including this year's event that will be held May 20-25 at one of the premier courses in the country.
"We played match play out in Arizona for the most part," Kaur said, "so it will be nice to get back to stroke-play golf and what our normal schedule looks like."
Through seven rounds of qualifying, Goble is taking a lineup that includes four of the five players that helped Baylor win the Hawaii tournament by 30 strokes. Kaur, Britta Snyder and Rosie Belsham finished 1-2-3 individually at the Rainbow Wahine and will be joined by freshman Antonia Matte and junior Hannah Karg.
"They're a pretty confident group," Goble said. "They're pretty easy to travel with, they have played a lot of tournament golf together and they're friends. But, they're also very competitive amongst the group. They want to play well against their friends and they want to beat them, so there's a healthy competition within that group. I love the five we're taking."
Unlike her freshman and sophomore years, when "we knew who was going to go the tournament," Kaur said there is great competition for the five spots in the lineup. Grad transfer Addie Baggerly from Florida played in The Desert Match Play, but didn't make the top five for this tournament, while freshman BaiMai Seema was in the lineup and had a top-15 finish in Hawaii.
"Everyone's so competitive in qualifying that we all know we're a strong team," Belsham said. "It's like, 'She's practice for an hour. OK, I'm going to do an hour and a half.' Everyone wants to beat everyone on the team, so it gets everyone's game in good shape."
Joining Baylor, South Carolina and the host Louisville team are sixth-ranked Arkansas, No. 7 Florida, No. 8 Virginia and ninth-ranked Alabama. Rounding out the field are Auburn (17th), Duke (19th), LSU (21st), UCF (30th), Florida State (31st), Miami (32nd), North Carolina (43rd) and Augusta (54th).
This is a much stronger field than any of the NCAA regionals in May, when Baylor tries to make it to the NCAA Championship for the sixth time in 11 years under Goble. Last year's team won a Big 12-record five-consecutive tournaments and made it back to the NCAA Championships, but missed match play with a 14th-place finish.
"This definitely a top-eight team if we get it all clicking together at the right time," said Goble, referring to the top eight that qualify for match play. "It's all about timing and when you're playing your best golf. This is on paper, the best team I've ever had, top to bottom. We have depth that we've never had before, throughout the lineup. If we're playing our best golf in April and May, we're going to be tough."
The 54-hole tournament continues through Tuesday, with live scoring available at golfstat.com.
MELBOURNE, Fla. – Baylor women's golf will play its first stroke-play event of the spring beginning Sunday at the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida.
The Bears played The Desert Match Play in January to knock some rust off, but head coach Jay Goble wants Sunday's opening round to start BU's build to a long postseason.
"My expectations are high," Goble said. "I think that we have a good team, and we're taking a good team out there, but at the end of the day, I want us to get better from here. I want us to go out there and see where we need to improve and move forward from there, getting ready for April and May."
Senior Gurleen Kaur has solidified herself as a fixture at the top of the Bears' lineup, but she has seen fierce competition for the other four spots in this lineup.
"We played seven qualifying rounds for our first event, and it's just been really tight," she said. "The competition is good. My freshman and sophomore year — for the most part — we knew who was going to go to the tournament. But this year, the 4-5-6-7 spots in our lineup have been different."
Kaur will tee off in the anchor position at 9:50 a.m. CT on Sunday, following Rosie Belsham at 9:40 a.m. in the No. 2 spot. Belsham feels this team is ready for the first stroke-play event of the spring season.
"We've all grinded really hard for this event," Belsham said. "I think everyone sees this as the first event of the season, and I think we're very confident. Everyone is so competitive in qualifying, everyone knows we're a strong team, and I think everyone expects that we can win."
After an impressive fall season, where she shot par or better in five of her first six collegiate rounds, freshman Antonia Matte will play out of the No. 3 spot. She will look for a solid start to the spring season when she tees off at 9:30 a.m.
Britta Snyder is coming off a second-place finish in her last stroke-play event, the Rainbow Wahine Invitational. She was second on the team with seven rounds at par or better in the fall, and she will aim to carry that over to the spring when she tees off at 9:20 a.m.
Hannah Karg will make her first start in the lineup since late September at the Schooner Fall Classic. She will lead things off for the Bears at 9:10 a.m.
Live stats will be available at Golfstat.com. For more information on Baylor Women's Golf, follow @BaylorWGolf on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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