Monday, February 3
Dallas, Texas
Kansas State University
vs
SMU / DAC Challenge
Wildcats Hope to Take Advantage of Headstart at DAC
Feb 01, 2020 | Women's Golf
MANHATTAN, Kan. - As Kansas State womens' golf opens it's spring slate, it's already intensely focused on the end. The Wildcats tee off their season with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start Monday at the SMU/DAC Invitational on Dallas Athletic Club's Blue Course, the same location as the team's final round of the regular season as the site also plays host to the 2020 Big 12 Women's Golf Championship in April.
Monday's primary goal remains to compete for a tournament crown, both individually and as a team, but the Wildcats will also use the opportunity to preview as much of the 6,151-yard course they can in preparation for the league championship April 24-26. All seven Wildcats will travel - Niamh McSherry, Reid Isaac, Chloe Weir, Heather Fortushniak and Darby Deans as the five-player scoring lineup - and are likely to take meticulous notes and fill the margins of their yardage books during the practice round on Sunday, followed by 36-holes of stroke play Monday.
In addition to K-State and tournament-host SMU, the field consists of North Texas, Tulsa and Big 12 foes Baylor and Texas Tech, both of which will also benefit from a rule that allows play of a tournament site in sanctioned tournaments the year of an event.
"It's going to be a huge advantage," said McSherry, who led the team with a 73.71 scoring average in the fall, including a win at the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational. "Reid, Darby and I were talking about how we played (Dallas Athletic Club) freshman year, but we feel like we're completely different golfers and completely different people in the way we approach the game.
"Conditions could be very different when we come around in April, but just the fact that we get to see the course, plan our practice round in what way we see the course. Before the Big 12 Championship we have a couple weeks between tournaments, we'll get to do a lot of focused, individual practice in how we feel like we would play the course. It's huge being able to see it before we get to conference and it's even better actually playing in a tournament against other teams. It's a lot more focused and it's going to be a great week to one, get back into competitive golf, but two, to really prepare for what's to come in April."
The Wildcats are no stranger to Dallas Athletic Club with Deans, Isaac and McSherry playing the course as freshmen when K-State finished eighth at the 2018 Big 12 Championship and Haley Vargas, a Lubbock, Texas native, playing the course as a junior golfer. With just a little more than a week of official team practice completed, but dozens of competitive rounds played over the last season and a half, the now experienced trio is looking for improved results this week and again in nearly three months.
"For me it's all confidence - going out there on Sunday and Monday, playing well in those three rounds and showing myself that I can do it," Isaac said. "That's going to be the biggest aspect of this tournament for me. I didn't end on a great note last time we played there, so just being able to go out there, redeem myself and prove to myself that I'm good enough to shoot great scores on that course.
"We are way different golfers now, even different just as people. Not only our golf games - new shots we have and knowing our games better - but also having better attitudes and taking better notes and being more detailed during the practice round, knowing what to look for when going to courses ahead of time, things like that."
The Wildcats return every member of the scoring lineup from last year's Big 12 Tournament squad that slipped to the bottom of the standings at the Golf Club of Oklahoma in Broken Arrow, despite a top-10 finish from Chloe Weir.
K-State will play the league's championship course during the regular season for the first time since 2009, before the league adopted a neutral site for the championship in 2014. That year, the Wildcats finished 11th of 13 teams at the McHaney/Morehead Invitational at the Rawls Course in Lubbock, Texas in October before bouncing back with a fourth-place finish at the 2009 Big 12 Championship in April - the program's best finish ever.
K-State will open the season in the first week of February for the second consecutive season, an earlier than usual beginning in hopes of jump starting a campaign that saw the Wildcats win as a team at the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational on their home course before a trio of bottom half finishes to close the fall. It all starts, and ends - outside of potential NCAA Regional play - at Dallas Athletic Club.
"The more rounds you can get on a golf course, usually the better," K-State head coach Kristi Knight said. "This is a great opportunity to get three more rounds, it's a good place, it's just a good opportunity to start the spring.
"It's time to hit it, go get it and hit it again, just time to go play golf. They've put in the practice, had good energy, just need to tee it up and trust yourself and have some fun."
Monday's primary goal remains to compete for a tournament crown, both individually and as a team, but the Wildcats will also use the opportunity to preview as much of the 6,151-yard course they can in preparation for the league championship April 24-26. All seven Wildcats will travel - Niamh McSherry, Reid Isaac, Chloe Weir, Heather Fortushniak and Darby Deans as the five-player scoring lineup - and are likely to take meticulous notes and fill the margins of their yardage books during the practice round on Sunday, followed by 36-holes of stroke play Monday.
In addition to K-State and tournament-host SMU, the field consists of North Texas, Tulsa and Big 12 foes Baylor and Texas Tech, both of which will also benefit from a rule that allows play of a tournament site in sanctioned tournaments the year of an event.
"It's going to be a huge advantage," said McSherry, who led the team with a 73.71 scoring average in the fall, including a win at the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational. "Reid, Darby and I were talking about how we played (Dallas Athletic Club) freshman year, but we feel like we're completely different golfers and completely different people in the way we approach the game.
"Conditions could be very different when we come around in April, but just the fact that we get to see the course, plan our practice round in what way we see the course. Before the Big 12 Championship we have a couple weeks between tournaments, we'll get to do a lot of focused, individual practice in how we feel like we would play the course. It's huge being able to see it before we get to conference and it's even better actually playing in a tournament against other teams. It's a lot more focused and it's going to be a great week to one, get back into competitive golf, but two, to really prepare for what's to come in April."
The Wildcats are no stranger to Dallas Athletic Club with Deans, Isaac and McSherry playing the course as freshmen when K-State finished eighth at the 2018 Big 12 Championship and Haley Vargas, a Lubbock, Texas native, playing the course as a junior golfer. With just a little more than a week of official team practice completed, but dozens of competitive rounds played over the last season and a half, the now experienced trio is looking for improved results this week and again in nearly three months.
"For me it's all confidence - going out there on Sunday and Monday, playing well in those three rounds and showing myself that I can do it," Isaac said. "That's going to be the biggest aspect of this tournament for me. I didn't end on a great note last time we played there, so just being able to go out there, redeem myself and prove to myself that I'm good enough to shoot great scores on that course.
"We are way different golfers now, even different just as people. Not only our golf games - new shots we have and knowing our games better - but also having better attitudes and taking better notes and being more detailed during the practice round, knowing what to look for when going to courses ahead of time, things like that."
The Wildcats return every member of the scoring lineup from last year's Big 12 Tournament squad that slipped to the bottom of the standings at the Golf Club of Oklahoma in Broken Arrow, despite a top-10 finish from Chloe Weir.
K-State will play the league's championship course during the regular season for the first time since 2009, before the league adopted a neutral site for the championship in 2014. That year, the Wildcats finished 11th of 13 teams at the McHaney/Morehead Invitational at the Rawls Course in Lubbock, Texas in October before bouncing back with a fourth-place finish at the 2009 Big 12 Championship in April - the program's best finish ever.
K-State will open the season in the first week of February for the second consecutive season, an earlier than usual beginning in hopes of jump starting a campaign that saw the Wildcats win as a team at the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational on their home course before a trio of bottom half finishes to close the fall. It all starts, and ends - outside of potential NCAA Regional play - at Dallas Athletic Club.
"The more rounds you can get on a golf course, usually the better," K-State head coach Kristi Knight said. "This is a great opportunity to get three more rounds, it's a good place, it's just a good opportunity to start the spring.
"It's time to hit it, go get it and hit it again, just time to go play golf. They've put in the practice, had good energy, just need to tee it up and trust yourself and have some fun."
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
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