2023-2024 Women's Golf Season

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - Shockers Set to Open Season in Springfield

The Shocker women's golf team starts the 2023-24 season once again in Springfield, Missouri, where they will compete in the Payne Stewart Memorial Golf Tournament, hosted at Rivercut Golf Course. The Memorial is a two-day event, running from September 11^th to September 12^th.

Head Coach Tom McCurdy is eager to get the new season underway and saw some impressive numbers in the team's qualifiers in recent days.

"We had a lot of bright spots in our qualifying rounds." McCurdy said. "We played at three different courses this past week that I think will give us a good idea of what we're playing on this week at Rivercut."

The Payne Stewart Memorial Golf Tournament is played at Rivercut Golf Course, which a 72-par course and spans 6,282 yards.

"The course has a really good balance of longer and shorter holes," McCurdy said. "It's got some really challenging short holes that require club discipline and features some longer holes that will require really good tee shots."

The Shocker lineup in next week's tournament sees all three new Shockers, Kate Tilma, Anna Takahashi, and Hillary Currier, making their Shocker debuts in their first tournament of the season. Redshirt freshman Lauren Thiele will also be making her first tournament appearance wearing black and yellow. The only returning golfer from last year in the Shocker lineup is Mackenzie Wilson, the sophomore standout from Hobart, Australia.

"I think we have a great talent base in our top-5 this week and I think our golf game is set up very well for this golf course," McCurdy said.

All eight 2023-24 Shockers will be playing in this tournament as returners Brooklyn Benn, Sarah Lawson, and Madison Slayton will all make the trip and compete as individuals.

Unlike the men's five, this is a very young group

[1972Shocker]

The youngsters are playing in front a redshirt junior, Sarah Lawson, and a senior, Madison Slayton, although those two will be playing as individuals. Hopefully, that is a sign we are in the process of upgrading the overall talent on the team.

[1972Shocker]

Live Stats

The Shocks are in 2nd place in the 17-team field after carding a 2-over score in Round 1 only 1-shot off the lead.

Mackenzie Wilson led the way with a 2-under 70, no surprise there, followed by Kate Tilma and Anna Takahashi at even par and Lauren Thiele at 4-over par.

Freshman HIllary Currier had the throw away score at 10-over 82. She struggled through the middle part of her round going bogey, bogey, double-bogey, par, double-bogey, par, double-bogey, bogey, bogey on holes 5 through 12 which accounts for all of her 10-over score. She was even par on the other 10 holes with 1 bogey and 1 birdie. Hopefully, that was just freshman stress. She did finish the last 6 holes in 1-under. No harm really as Sarah Lawson and Madison Slayton, playing as individuals, were 5-over and 6-over respectively, so those scores would not have counted either. Brooklyn Benn did not play.

Encouraging start for the young Shocks but it is just one round. Hopefully, Anna Takahashi, a grad student, will provide solid leadership for this young group.

Correction: I need to correct my analysis of Hillary Currier's round. It was a shot gun start and she started on the 8th hole. So her round was bad at the beginning and end but solid in the middle. She was 6 over on her first 5 holes and 4 over on her final 3 holes while playing intervening 9 holes in even par. The starting hole is not indicated on the scorecard. You have go to the pairings to find that.

[WuDrWu]

They are struggling a bit on the 2nd 18 but trying to hang in there. Kate Tilma is continuing her solid play. Starting on #7, she has 7 pars and 1 birdie so far. Very solid golf from the KSU transfer.

[1972Shocker]

They are struggling a bit on the 2nd 18 but trying to hang in there. Kate Tilma is continuing her solid play. Starting on #7, she has 7 pars and 1 birdie so far. Very solid golf from the KSU transfer.

The freshman, Hillary Currier, making a nice rebound from her tough Round 1. She is 1 over after 10 holes with 9 pars on her card. Let's hope she can sustain that through the end of the round.

[1972Shocker]

Looks like they did get the 2nd round completed finally. The Shocks hanging in pretty well although Lauren Thiele struggled in Round 2 but she will have the throw away score at 12- over 84. The Shocks are 3rd place 6 shots behind co-leaders Austin Peay and Oral Roberts.

Kate Tilma with her 2nd straight solid round is in a 2-under 70. Freshman Hillary Currier had a big bounce back round from her 10-over 82 in round 1 to card a 1-over 73 in round 2. That seems like a good sign. Mackenzie Wilson could not get the birdie stick going in Round 2 as she was 6-over and did not record a birdie after 5 birdies in round 1. Anna Takahashi finishes at even par 72.

It looks like Brooklyn Benn has, in fact, played in the tournament as an individual. She was plus +10 in round 1 and +6 in round 2. In round 2 Sarah Lawson was +10 and Madiso Slayton was +9. None of the scores would have improved the Shocks position on the team scoreboard.

On the medalist leaderboard Kate Tilma is tied for 5th at 2-over 5 shots off the lead. Anna Takahashi is tied for 8th at even par.

Should be able to finish up tomorrow but the course may be soft as it appears like Springfield will be getting steady rain most of the night beginning at around 9 pm. Should be a nice cool day with a high of 72 forecasted.

[1972Shocker]

it looks like the scores were generally high today, including the Shockers. Not uncommon for the course setup to be the toughest in the final round plus a night of rain may have the course playing longer today than in the first 2 rounds.

The Shocks recorded a final round score of 298, 10-over par. Katie Tilma and Mackenzie Wilson were both 1-over and Anna Takahashi was 2-over but unfortunately Hillary Currier at 6-over and Lauren Thiele at 7-over were unable to keep up with Laruen's score discarded for team scoring purposes.

The Shocks finished the tournament at 78-over par which was good for 4th place just 1 shot behind 3rd place Cal Baptist.

Last year the Shocks finished 6th in this tournament on the same course with a score of 35-over par. None of the 3 teams that finished ahead of the Shockers this year played in this tournament last year. Also, 4 of the 5 teams that finished ahead of them last year did play in this tournament and all 4 finished behind the Shockers.

Missouri State won the tournament last year at 15-over. ORU was this year's winner at 4-over.

Last year the Shocks finished 20 strokes behind Missouri State. This year they finished 9 strokes ahead of them.

So it appears the Shocks are trending in the right direction and early returns indicate Kate Tilma and Anna Takahashi are really nice additions to the roster to go along with Mackenzie Wilson. On the medalist leader board Kate finished in a 2-way ties for 5th at 1-under, Anna in a 3-way tie for 13th at 2-over, and Mackenzie in a 2-way tie for 20th at 5-over. Mackenzie had a rough day by her standards in round 2 with a 6-over 78 and today she had a double-bogey on a par 5 on her next to last hole. So she easily could have had a Top 10 finish.

That said I think to be able to move up into the top half of the AAC the Shocks need to find 2 more consistently dependable players. To be successful in collegiate golf you need to develop consistency and depth. I think we may have improved that with Kate, Anna and Mackenzie. Perhaps that will come for Lauren and Hillary. Only time will tell.

Doesn't appear that anyone in the bullpen are the answer. Senior Madison Slayton and Redshirt Junior Sarah Lawson were both 24-over par tied with 5 others for 72nd. And Sophomore Brookly Benn, who struggled mightily today with an 18-over 90, finished in a 2-way tie 91st in the field of 99 players.

[1972Shocker]

[1972Shocker]

Coeur d'Alene Collegiate

Shocks not faring all that well in Idaho as they are 11 place in the 13 team mid-major field at 31-over par.

The Shocks were in 5th place after a 7-over 291 in Round 1 led by a 1-under par 70 by Mackenzie Wilson and an even par 71 by Kate Tilma. Sarah Lawson cared a 74 and Hillary Courier a 76. Anna Takahashi had the throw away score at 9-over par 80.

The Shocks ran into trouble in round 2 ballooning to 24-over par 308, by far the worst team score of the day.with all 5 payers shooting a higher score than in round 1. Kate shot a 74, Mackenzie a 75, Hillary a 78, Sarah an 82 and Anna an 81.

Individually, Kate and Mackenzie are tied for 15th. The other 3 ladies are 57th, 60th and 71st out of 73 players. Anna in particular seems to be struggling with this course.

Still striving to find some consistency and depth.

Hopefully, the ladies will bounce back with a better round tomorrow to close out the tournament.

BTW, while Gonzaga is in third place at 8 over par, their top player, Grace Lee, is running away with medalist honors shooting 9-under 62 rin round 1 followed by a 2-under 62 in round 2. Here 11-under score is8 points clear of the field.

[WuDrWu]

Grace Lee was a birdie machine in round 1.

[shockchic]

FYI Dr. Wu. We just found out today that the Shox were playing here. We live in the top PH on hole 13 overlooking the water & the 14th floating green. We will have our shocker hats & shirts on tomorrow for the final round. You never know where you will find Shocker alumni. If they come back here next season we will host a nice party for them at our home.

[WuDrWu]

Coeur D'Alene Resort is on my bucket list, and one of the few I have a shot at completing. One of this Country's hidden gems, to say the least.

[WuDrWu]

FYI Dr. Wu. We just found out today that the Shox were playing here. We live in the top PH on hole 13 overlooking the water & the 14th floating green. We will have our shocker hats & shirts on tomorrow for the final round. You never know where you will find Shocker alumni. If they come back here next season we will host a nice party for them at our home.

Beyond awesome. Prime example of the best of WSU Alumni.

[1972Shocker]

Grace Lee was a birdie machine in round 1.

No kidding 11 birdies in that round. And she is just a sophomore.

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks bounced back form their implosion in the 2nd round on Monday to shoot their lowest team score of the tournament at 3-over 287. The did pull away form the 2 teams that trailed them after round 2 but had simply dug themselves to much of a hole to make much of a move in the team standings. They did catch UC Riverside who lead the Shocks by 12 strokes after Round 2 largely due to Riverside up a 15-over 299 in the final round to drop into a 10th place tie with the Shocks.

Leading the way for the Shocks was sophomore Mackenzie Wilson at 3-under 68, followed by grad transfer Anna Takahashi who carded a 1-under 70 and Kate Tilma with a 1-over par 72. Redshirt junior Sarah Lawson and freshman Hillary Currier both carded 6-over 77's.

Mackenzie put together rounds of 70-75-68 = 213 to finish in a T-7th on the medalist leaderboard. Kate shot 71-74-72 = 217 to finish in a T-17th individually. Anna, who struggled mightily in her first two rounds shooting 80-81, after playing last week, at least perhaps salvaged a bit of her confidence with her 1-under 70 today.

Results: https://results.golfstat.com/public/...team&tid=28328