Ready to Compete

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Today is the day.

Today, the Kansas State women's golf team begins its quest for its first national championship as the Wildcats and 29 other teams tackle the 2025 NCAA Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.

K-State begins its play in the national championship on Friday with a 6:52 a.m. (PT) tee time off No. 1 as the Wildcats will be paired with Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State. The Wildcats, Commodores and Cowgirls will be part of the afternoon wave for Saturday's second round, beginning play off the 10^th tee at 12:12 p.m. (PT). Tee times on Sunday and Monday will be based on results entering the round.

The Wildcats participated in their practice round on Thursday.

Second-year K-State head coach Stew Burke afterward said, "They're ready."

"They've been ready all year to compete at this level," said Burke, who on Tuesday was named to the watch list for the Jackie Steinmann National Coach of the Year award. "It's just a nice way to finish the year. This is really the expectation. We want them to compete against these teams week in and week out. They've done this all season. It's just one more go around the course for them."

The 2025 NCAA Championship consists of 54 holes of stroke play, Friday through Sunday, after which the 30-team field will be cut to 15 in addition to the top nine individuals on non-advancing teams.

The fourth and final round of stroke play on Monday will be used to determine the eight teams that will advance to match play in addition to the 72-hole individual champion. Quarterfinal and semifinal matches will be held on Tuesday, while the championship match will be conducted on Wednesday.

K-State is seeded No. 21 for the event and is one of a record six Big 12 programs to advance to the NCAA Championship, joining Arizona State, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas and Oklahoma State.

Omni La Costa will play as a par-72 layout measuring 6,330 yards. The golf course underwent an "extensive renovation," according to Golfweek, and the NCAA Championship was the first event on the layout before it opened for public play last year.

The course features a drivable par-4 11^th hole, a green on the par-3 16^th hole that is repositioned in a fashion reminiscent of Augusta National Golf Club's No. 12 hole, and the par-5 18^th hole stretches to more than 600 yards with water on both sides of the fairway, according to Golfweek.

K-State senior Carla Bernat, the 2024-25 Big 12 Golfer of the Year and who is ranked No. 17 in the National Collegiate Golf Rankings, played Omni La Costa when she played in the national championship as an individual last year.

Bernat won the 2025 Lexington Regional individual title by earning a two-shot victory over No. 1-ranked Mirabel Ting and No. 2-ranked Lottie Woad of Florida State.

"The greens were really hard last year," Bernat said. "It kind of challenges everything in your game. You have par-3s that are long, and par-5s that aren't really reachable. You need to have a really good short game. The course is fast. You have to be good at everything on that golf course."

Burke accompanied Bernat to the national championship last year, mindful of some of the challenges ahead for the Wildcats.

"Having a bit of knowledge from the previous year certainly sped things up as we knew some of the cheat codes, I guess," Burke said after Thursday's practice round.

K-State's scoring lineup remains unchanged from the last two events as it features seniors Carla Bernat and Sophie Bert, junior Noa van Beek, sophomore Alenka Navarro and freshman Nanami Nakashima. Sophomore Julia Ballester Barrio will serve as the Wildcats' alternate.

"It's great because Carla made some mistakes last year on some of the holes, so for us, we were a little bit more tuned in on some holes because we knew you could make mistake pretty easily out there," Burke said. "This is the national championship. They're going to set it up pretty hard and reward good golf, too."

K-State enters the NCAA Championship after finishing in the top five in three-straight events, including a fifth-place showing in the Big 12 Championship and a tie for second in the NCAA Lexington Regional.

K-State currently holds school records in scoring average (287.40) and top-three finishes (7), while it is tied for first in wins (2) and top-five finishes (9). Nine of the 12 lowest rounds in school history have come this year.

"Having Colbert Hills at home where we can speed up the greens or slow them down, the different rough of our short course have definitely helped us prepare for being out here," Burke said. "Overall, this is a hard golf course. If you play well, you'll have a good score. If you struggle a little bit, you really just have to grind and make sure the number doesn't get away from you."

For now, everything is within the grasp of K-State, which was left out of the NCAA Regionals a year ago and now is one of the biggest comeback stories this year in Division I women's golf.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Julia Ballester Barrio

Carla Bernat

Sophie Bert

Nanami Nakashima

Alenka Navarro

Noa van Beek

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