The chances of shooting a hole-in-one are 1 to 12,500. You are more likely to find a four leaf clover (1 to 10,000) or be injured by a lawnmower (1 to 3,700). But on Monday, Sept. 14, at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships, sophomore Jessy Young beat those odds, hitting a hole-in-one on the eighth hole, sinking a 9-iron from 132 yards. 

Despite the excitement of Young’s hole-in-one, the WashU women’s golf team finished third out of four teams at the UAA Championships, competing in a conference where all four teams rank among the nation’s top 10. The Bears lost to Emory University and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) before defeating New York University (NYU) to claim third place. 

The UAA result comes after a first place sweep at Denison University’s Lynn Schweizer Invitational last weekend, while this week’s competition gives the Bears an early season test against the NCAA’s top three finishers.  

“It was a good feeling to know that we were playing kind of the top of the top in terms of D-III [Division III] golf, and I think our mentality was actually being able to beat any of these teams,” senior Amy Beanblossom said. 

During the first day of the tournament, WashU women’s golf fell to Emory and CMU.

Against Emory, junior Nicole McGuire picked up WashU’s lone victory, winning with two holes up. Sophomore Angela Chen earned a tie against Emory’s 2025 individual national champion Carys Code, while the remaining four Bears lost in their respective matches. 

WashU saw a similar outcome against CMU. Chen recorded the Bears’ only win, defeating her opponent by two holes. Young added a tie, along with the highlight of the tournament: her hole-in-one. 

“I had some disappointing losses the first two days where I kind of I had a big lead and then gave it up, which is definitely upsetting to me,” Beanblossom said. “And so my mentality was definitely, ‘I’ve already lost two matches. Let’s see what I can do in this third match.’”

Her shift in mentality shined through in the final match as the Bears closed out the tournament with a 4-2 victory over NYU, a team that finished third at the NCAA championships last season. McGuire and Young got WashU on the board early, defeating their opponents by one and two holes, respectively. Beanblossom and first-year Eliza Meltzer followed with wins of their own, defeating their opponents by four and one holes. 

“We had nothing to lose. I think that freed us up a lot,” Beanblossom said. “We knew we had it in us the whole time, and we were ready to not let up our fight.”

Facing three of the top teams in the country gave the Bears an early gauge for where they stand nationally and what they need to improve as the season continues. 

“The fact that we were able to beat NYU on the last day just showed us that we can really compete with those other girls and these other three schools at UAAs,” Beanblossom said.

The Bears will rematch Carnegie Mellon at the Tartan Invitational on Monday, Sept. 28 and Tuesday, Sept. 29, this time hoping to finish the tournament on top. 

“I think [the Tartan Invitational] will make for an exciting tournament in the next two weeks. … As my coach always says, it really comes down to short game. … I think at the level we’re at, where the strokes get fewer and fewer, it really comes down to making those clutch shots,” Beanblossom said.