Cats Improve to Finish Seventh in Florida State Match-Up

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Tallahassee, Fla.

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Kansas State University

FSU Match-Up

Cats Improve to Finish Seventh in Florida State Match-Up

Feb 28, 2021 | Women's Golf

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – On a day when scoring opportunities were limited, the K-State Women's Golf team posted a strong performance to earn the seventh-place spot as the Wildcats concluded play in the Florida State Match-Up on Sunday.

K-State finished with a 309-296-305–910 (+46) score at the par-72, 6,255-yard Seminole Legacy Golf Club. While their third-round score of 305 was nine strokes higher than Saturday's outing, the Wildcats still managed to climb one spot on the team leaderboard.

"These green complexes are challenging," head coach Kristi Knight said after the last round. "They gave us really challenging hole locations that could turn a small miss into a big miss if you're unable to keep yourself on the right side of the green. Today was probably the windiest day, and it was kind of an up and down day. I'm proud of the ladies. They battled hard."

Niamh McSherry, who went bogey-free on Saturday, led K-State again with a team-best score of 3-over par 75. After tallying four birdies on Sunday, she finished in a tie for 24th at 10-over par 226. Freshman Napua Glossner joined McSherry in carding a 75 in the third round, jumping 12 spots on the leaderboard to tie for 44th at 17-over par 233.

"Both Niamh and Napua hit the ball really high, which is an advantage," Knight said. "Generally when you hit the ball long and you can hit the ball high, you have the ability to use shorter clubs, which is an advantage for these difficult hole locations.

"I'm just really proud of them," Knight continued about the team. "They kept competing and kept battling. Today was probably the toughest day. The winds were stronger from start to finish."

Junior Heather Fortushniak posted the Wildcats' third-best score on Sunday. She carded a 78-78-76–232 (+16) for the tournament.
Sophomore Haley Vargas, who carded a 7-over par 79 on Sunday, finished the tournament tied for 38th place at 15-over par 231. Senior Reid Isaac shot a 73-77-80–230 (+14) for the event to tie for 34th place.

"A couple of them got off to a rough start and a couple of them had a rough patch kind of in the middle, but they all kept competing and kept good attitudes," Knight said. "They were fighting for every shot out there."

Florida State posted a strong showing to take the title on its home course. The Seminoles were the only team to finish under par with a final score of 9-under par 855. FSU finished an impressive 37 strokes ahead of runner-up Kent State. Beatrice Wallen of Florida State, who led after the first two rounds, was crowned the individual champion after her 66-68-70–204 (-12) performance.

"It wasn't the day we hoped for," Knight said on the 305 final score. "We would have liked to have a lower team score, but I think there is still a lot to take from this event. We have to get off to a quicker start in the first round. We put ourselves in a position where we were behind quite a few teams after the first round, but we moved up again."

K-State's appearance in Tallahassee is the second of five regular-season tournaments for the Wildcats this spring. In three weeks, the Wildcats will travel to Tucson, Arizona to host the MountainView Collegiate at The Preserve Golf Club.