ASHTIN ELDER

Junior Tiffany Chan competes at a tournament. (courtesy of WashU Athletics)

The No. 4 WashU women’s golf team placed fourth with a cumulative score of 31 over par at the Deb Jackson Invitational on April 13-14 in Douglassville, Georgia. Senior Sydney Kuo led the Bears, scoring five over par across the two-day tournament to place seventh.

The tournament was the first time this season that WashU teed up against conference rivals No. 1 Carnegie Mellon University and No. 2 Emory University in the same tournament. Emory won the tournament, which it hosted, and Carnegie Mellon placed second, with respective scores of +14 and +24.

“They’re always really solid competitors, and honestly, probably the best test [we] will get for nationals, because they are the best two [teams in the nation],” Kuo said about competing against Carnegie Mellon and Emory.

At the end of the first round, Kuo and sophomore Amy Beanblossom, who won her first collegiate tournament on March 29-30, sat tied for fourth with scores of 72 strokes (+1). Fellow sophomore Reagan Robinson, who was playing as an individual, shot a 76 (+5) for a share of 18th place. Robinson and senior McKensey Kaseta both competed as individuals meaning that their scores did not count towards the overall team total. First-year Nicole McGuire shot a 77 (+6) for a share of 21st place.

Juniors Tiffany Chan and Athena Nguyen ended the first round tied for 25th and 32nd, respectively, and Kaseta sat in 27th place.

The next morning, on April 14, WashU returned to West Pines Golf Club for the second day of the tournament. 

Chan, who sat in 25th at the end of the first round, was the tournament’s biggest mover on the day. She shot an even round with two bogeys on the first nine and two birdies on the second to jump up 15 spots, finishing in 10th and second for WashU. Kaseta also moved up three spots during the second day to finish in 24th.

Chan’s success on the second day came from her confidence and ability to analyze and change her golf game, according to head coach Dave Reinhardt.

“She collected her mistakes from the day before,” he said. “And when you get that confidence in golf, that’s so huge, or when you know what you’re doing wrong and you’re going to and you can self correct it the night after a bad day, or during the day, during the tournament, that’s huge.”

Kuo shot a round of 76 (+5) to finish in seventh place and Beanblossom shot eight over par to place in 14th, the third-highest finish for a WashU golfer. McGuire and Nguyen rounded out WashU’s scoring five players, finishing in 22nd and 33rd places, respectively. Robinson placed 27th after shooting an 80 (+9).

Kuo attributed her success on the course to her mentality and working on her short game. Kuo has also taken on a leadership role mentoring younger golfers on the team.

“It meant a lot,” Kuo said. “I love being a role model, especially to the first-years who are almost finishing their first year here. I remember my time as a freshman and looking up to those upperclassmen. And I mean, I love that I can be their role model on the course and someone they can look up to and gain confidence from.”

WashU will now compete at the Cardinal Classic on April 21 and 22 in Chicago, Illinois, before learning if they will earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships, where the team finished second in 2023. 

Going into their final match of the Spring season, the team hopes to work on continuing to post “strong, solid scores,” according to Reinhardt.

“We need scores in the 70s consistently, and it’s my job to help them out,” Reinhardt said. “And that’s what we’re going to focus on this week. Turning bogeys into pars and turning some pars into birdies this week.”