K-State Golf Teams to Compete in Blessings Collegiate Invitational

MANHATTAN, Kan. – With a collective four top-five finishes in their five events this season, the Kansas State men's and women's golf teams are set to compete in a unique event as the Wildcats take part in Blessings Collegiate Invitational, Monday through Wednesday, at the par-72 Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The event, now in its sixth iteration, features 10 schools with both the men's and women's teams playing the same course at the same time with a 7,700-yard layout for the men and a 6,422-yard configuration for the women. Each school will have all five members of its team playing each hole together as there will be 18 holes of competition each day.

In addition to K-State and host-school Arkansas, the field at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational includes the men's and women's teams from BYU, Kent State, Louisville, Maryland, Mississippi State, Missouri, UNC Greensboro and Washington State.

The K-State men's squad will send out the lineup of seniors Alex Lindstrom and Shea Harmeson, sophomore Fionn Dobbin and freshmen Ville Virkkala and Oliver Toyer.

"We are excited to play at the Blessings this week. It's a fantastic tournament on a tremendous golf course that will test every part of your game," head coach Grant Robbins said. "The course is long and demanding but is also fair. It's a course where we will need to strike it well, but most of all we need to be committed on every shot and take advantage of opportunities when we can. It's a great field here, and I'm looking forward to seeing us compete."

The Wildcat women's scoring lineup will feature senior Noa van Beek, sophomores Nanami Nakashima and Kelsey Chen, as well as freshmen Keen Visavapattamawan and Casey Kang, the latter of whom will be making her season debut. Additionally, freshman Stalee Fields will compete as an individual.

"We are really looking forward to competing at the Blessings," said head coach Stew Burke. "The course is truly an NCAA National Championship-type venue and will give our ladies a true test this week. It is an interesting format with the men's team also being here, so there should be some good camaraderie between both squads as we try and combine our scores to top the leaderboard. Our roster is much deeper this year than it was last. The returning players have added an element of experience, which we hope will lead to a more accomplished performance."

The men's program has finished in the top five in each of its first three events, the first time accomplishing that feat since 2022. After winning the season-opening Wildcat Invitational, K-State finished fifth out of 14 teams at The Wohali before a second-place finish last week at the Git-R-Done Invitational.

The Wildcats' performance at the Git-R-Done Invitational was highlighted by Lindstrom, who tied for first place at 13-under par 200, a score that included a first-round total of 63 to tie for second in school history. His 54-hole score tied for the fifth lowest in program history as he went on to claim the 46th individual championship in school history.

Lindstrom holds a team-leading 71.00 scoring average, followed by Virkkala at 71.33 and Harmeson at 71.67.

The Blessings Collegiate Invitational represents the third of five fall events for the women's squad. They opened the year by tying for fourth place at the Sam Golden Invitational before tying for seventh place in a difficult 16-team field last week at the Schooner Fall Classic.

Four Wildcat women hold a scoring average of less than 71.00 over the first two events, led by Nakashima with a 69.50 mark. The Kani, Japan, native is coming off a tie for 11th place in the Schooner Fall Classic at 3-under par 207. van Beek holds a 70.67 scoring average thanks in part to a score of 6-under par 210 at the season-opening Sam Golden Invitational, but she is looking to bounce back from a tie for 37th place at the Schooner Fall Classic.

"The battle this week will not be with other teams in the field, but it will be staying patient, sticking to our game plan and understanding that par is a good score on the majority of the holes out here," said Burke.

Both squads will begin play on Monday morning off the 10th tee with the women starting at 8:15 a.m., and the men beginning at 9 a.m. K-State will start on the first tee on Tuesday with the women going at 9:45 a.m., and the men starting at 10:30 a.m.

Live results of the Blessings Collegiate Invitational will be available on SCOREBOARD Powered by Clippd, with the men's results available here and the women's results available here.

– k-statesports.com –

How to follow the Cats: For complete information on K-State Men's Golf, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook. For complete information on K-State Women's Golf, follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.

K-State Golf Teams to Compete in Blessings Collegiate Invitational

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kelsey Chen

Fionn Dobbin

Stalee Fields

Shea Harmeson

Casey Kang

Alex Lindstrom

Nanami Nakashima

Oliver Toyer

Noa van Beek

Ville Virkkala

Keen Visavapattamawan

Kansas State University Athletics