Wildcats Travel to Norman for Schooner Fall Classic
Sep 24, 2021 | Women's Golf
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The fall season marches on for the Kansas State women's golf team as they get set to compete in the 8th annual Schooner Fall Classic at the 6,109-yard Belmar Golf Club in Norman, Oklahoma. The two-day, 54-hole tournament will begin Sunday morning with tee times off holes 1 and 10 beginning at 9 a.m.
K-State is fresh off a third-place finish after the Wildcats hosted the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invitational earlier this week at Colbert Hills.
There were many highs and lows for the Wildcats in the home opener, but after round three concluded last Tuesday, head coach Kristi Knight was confident that her team would continue to improve.
"Every tournament is an experience and an opportunity to learn and grow," Knight said. "That's what we do from here. We look at what we did well and we look at what we need to do better as players and as coaches."
K-State will get to show its improvement against possibly the most talented competition they will face all fall. The 15-team field includes Big 12 counterparts Oklahoma (host), Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and TCU, along with Florida State, Illinois, Houston, North Texas, SMU, Texas A&M, Texas State, Tulsa and UTSA. The Wildcats already competed against seven of the teams already this season at the Sam Golden Invitational.
"I'm glad we can get right back out there into good competition," Knight said. "We must do a better job of keeping the ball in play off the tee, and make sure we have good target areas. When that happens, we can compete with anyone."
Remington Isaac, Manon Donche-Gay, Haley Vargas, Heather Fortushniak and Gabriela McNelly are competing in the scoring lineup for Kansas State. This is the third different lineup Knight has utilized this season, as the Wildcats have used a new lineup in each of their three tournaments.
K-State will lean on the play of Isaac, a freshman, and Donche-Gay, a community college transfer, both of whom have quickly shown they can be big time players for the Cats.
Isaac had her breakout performance at the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invitational with a tie for third place on the individual leaderboard. She shot 4-over par 220 thanks to a 4-under par 68 opening round, which tied for the best individual round score at the tournament.
Donche-Gay also had a top-five finish at Colbert Hills as she carded 6-over par 222 to tie for fifth.
Vargas is looking to get back to the way she played in the season opener at the Sam Golden Invitational. There, she had a team high finish of a tie for 33rd place and recorded the lowest round of any Wildcat this season (67).
Fortushniak, a senior, returns to the scoring lineup for a second time this season after competing as an individual earlier this week when she carded 11-over par 227 and tied for 28th.
McNelly, a sophomore from Micro, Texas, makes her debut in the lineup due to an impressive performance at Colbert Hills as an individual. She tied for 19th place with a score of 9-over par 225, her first career top-20 finish.
In the eight years that Oklahoma has hosted the Schooner Fall Classic, this is the third time K-State will be a part of the field. Last year, former Wildcat Reid Isaac - the older sister of Remington - claimed a share of the individual crown while the team finished in eighth place.
Action will begin at 9 a.m. Sunday morning with the first 36 holes and finish Monday as the final round is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. Live scoring can be followed at golfstat.com.
Players Mentioned
