After a 48-hour stop at home in Lincoln, the Nebraska women’s golf team heads west again to compete in the Arizona Wildcat Invitational in Tucson, March 8-9.
The 14-team event opens Monday, March 8 with a shotgun start at the Sewailo Golf Club beginning at 8:30 a.m. (CT). The teams will play 36 holes on Monday, before closing the tournament with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. (CT) on Tuesday.
Live scoring for the tournament will be available at GolfStat.com.
The tournament field includes No. 3 USC, No. 27 Arizona, No. 28 Oregon, No. 35 Colorado, No. 43 Iowa State, No. 63 New Mexico, No. 68 UNLV, No. 71 Iowa, No. 74 Oregon State, No. 78 Nebraska, No. 120 Northern Arizona, No. 126 Long Beach State, Denver and New Mexico State. USC’s Allison Corpuz enters the tournament as the highest ranked golfer in the field at No. 8, while Arizona’s YuSang Hou was ranked No. 31 by GolfStat (March 5). USC’s Alyaa Abdulghany (41st) and Nebraska’s Kate Smith (48th) put four of the nation’s top 50 golfers in the field, while five others entered the weekend in GolfStat’s top 100.
Smith, a fifth-year senior, is hunting for her second career NCAA Regional bid. Nebraska’s career stroke average leader (73.50), Smith has opened 2021 with two top-10 finishes. She tied for third at the Trinity Forest Invitational in Dallas, Texas (Feb. 1-2), before taking sixth against a loaded field in challenging scoring conditions at the Bruin Wave Invitational (March 1-3).
Graduate transfer Alice Duan, junior Megan Whittaker, freshman Michaela Vavrova and redshirt junior Kirsten Baete complete NU’s five-player lineup in the count-four scoring at Arizona.
Arizona Wildcat Invitational
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Host: Arizona
Course: Sewailo Golf Club (Par 72, TBA Yards)
Dates – Times
Monday, March 8 (Shotgun, 2 rounds) – 8:30 a.m. (CT)
Tuesday, March 9 (Shotgun) – 9 a.m. (CT)
Live Scoring: GolfStat.com
Participating Teams (14)
Arizona (27)
Colorado (35)
Denver
Iowa (71)
Iowa State (43)
Long Beach State (126)
Nebraska (78)
New Mexico (63)
New Mexico State
Northern Arizona (120)
Oregon (28)
Oregon State (74)
UNLV (68)
USC (3)
Smith Earns Augusta National Women’s Amateur Invitation
After a series of solid performances during the summer and fall, Nebraska senior Kate Smith earned an invitation to compete in the second annual Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship (March 31-April 3). She was among an elite list of just 72 of the top amateurs in the world to receive a coveted invite to the event when they were sent to golfers in late January.
Smith Shines Despite Abrupt End to True Senior Season in 2020
Despite having her fourth year at Nebraska cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, Kate Smith continued to add to her long list of accomplishments as a Husker golfer.
In the summer of 2020, Smith won the Minnesota Golf Association Women’s Amateur Championship for the second time, before qualifying for the 120th U.S. Women’s Amateur in Rockville, Md.
Smith finished 15th in the stroke play portion of the U.S. Women’s Amateur and advanced to the round of 32 in the match play event. She also went on to be named the Minnesota Golf Association Women’s Co-Player of the Year for 2020.
Huskers Tie for Seventh at Bruin Wave Invitational
In a 15-team field that featured 11 top-100 teams, Nebraska battled to a tie for seventh at the Bruin Wave Invitational in Somis, Calif., March 1-3.
In extremely challenging scoring conditions, Kate Smith surged up the leaderboard in the final round, closing with three straight birdies to take sixth (227) in an 82-golfer field.
The Huskers finished ahead of No. 34 San Diego State and No. 58 Cal Poly, while tying No. 65 Washington and No. 74 Oregon State. No. 9 Arizona State took the team title, while No. 16 Northwestern was the runner-up.
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