Huskers Open 2021 Season in Texas

Super senior Kate Smith returns for a fifth season to lead the Nebraska women’s golf team in search of postseason competition in 2020-21. That hunt for the postseason begins today when Nebraska competes at the Trinity Forest Invitational in Dallas, Texas.

Smith, who earned the Big Ten’s Mary Fossum Award after producing the conference’s top stroke average (72.18) relative to par last season, has continued to improve her game despite the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus in 2020. While the virus prevented Smith from taking part in NCAA Regional play as an individual last season, the stoppage allowed her and other seniors around the nation an additional year of eligibility.

She began preparing for 2020-21 almost immediately by capturing her second Minnesota Women’s Amateur Championship in July. In early August, she advanced to the round of 32 at the 120th U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md. Smith earned the No. 15 seed in the match play portion of the event after putting together two strong stroke play rounds in Maryland.

“Kate kept getting better throughout last season and developed as both a player and a leader for our team,” Nebraska Coach Lisa Johnson said. “She had a really good summer and we’re excited to see what this year can hold for her and our entire team.”

Recently, Smith also earned an invitation to play at the second annual Augusta National Women’s Amateur. A first-team All-Big Ten selection in an abbreviated 2020 season, Smith will shoot for her fifth consecutive year of setting the Nebraska single-season stroke average record while hoping to power the Huskers to NCAA Regional competition.

Trinity Forest Invitational

Dallas, Texas (Host: SMU / Trinity Forest Golf Club)

Par 72 / 6,258 Yards

Feb. 1 (Monday) – 8:45 a.m. (shotgun) – 36 holes

Feb. 2 (Tuesday) – 8 a.m. (shotgun) – 18 holes

(All teams playing fivesomes with own teammates)

Field (14 Teams)

Baylor, BYU, Chattanooga, Kansas State, Memphis, Missouri State, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, SMU, Texas, Texas Tech, Tulsa, UTSA, Washington

Nebraska Lineup

1. Kate Smith

2. Megan Whittaker

3. Alice Duan

4. Michaela Vavrova

5. Lindsey Thiele

Live Scoring: GolfStat.com

Smith won’t be the only super senior pushing Nebraska toward the postseason. Graduate transfer Alice Duan has proven herself worthy of NCAA Regional competition as she enters her fifth college season but first as a Husker.

Duan, who earned her bachelor’s degree from Washington in the spring of 2020, was a key player in UW’s run to both NCAA Regional and NCAA Championship play as a junior in 2019. She finished 13th individually at the 2019 Pac-12 Championships before tying for 28th at the NCAA Cle Elum Regional.

The Reno, Nev., native who spent her first two collegiate seasons at Cal State Northridge owns seven career top-10 finishes and qualified for the 2018 U.S. Women’s Amateur. She also won the Washington Women’s Amateur during the summer of 2020 before arriving in Lincoln.

Duan opened her Husker career by finishing as the Low Women’s Amateur at the 2020 Nebraska Open, which featured top male professionals along with men’s and women’s collegiate players from around the state.

“Alice brings a wealth of experience competing on the national stage,” Johnson said. “Her work ethic both in the classroom and on the course are second to none. She has a wonderful sense of humor and will be an all-around great Husker. We look for her to make an immediate impact.”

Fifth-year senior Jessica Haraden, who graduated from Nebraska in May 2020, will also take advantage of the additional year of eligibility to lead the Huskers, along with true seniors Noor Ahmed and Hannah Thiele.

Ahmed (Folsom, Calif.) and Thiele (Wahoo, Neb.) have both represented the Huskers at the Big Ten Championships and will contend for lineup spots throughout the season.

Juniors Kirsten Baete, Vanessa Bouvet and Megan Whittaker give the Huskers more talent and experience.

Baete, a native of Beatrice, Neb., broke through for the Huskers with a strong redshirt freshman campaign in 2018-19. After struggling to make some adjustments during the fall of 2019, Baete was playing solid golf early in the spring of 2020 before the season was canceled.

Whittaker, a second generation Husker women’s golfer from Elkhorn, Neb., continued her improvement throughout the fall of 2019 after showing impressive gains as a freshman that landed her a spot in the lineup at the Big Ten Championship.Whittaker’s 74.82 stroke average in the fall of 2019 trailed only Smith among the Huskers last season.

Bouvet (Bretagne, France) produced an outstanding season as a true freshman in 2018-19, but was unable to get untracked as a sophomore. She still enters the 2020-21 season with the second-best career collegiate stroke average (75.80) among active Huskers.

“Our junior class could play a big role in the success of our season,” Johnson said. “They all have the ability to continue to improve and cut strokes off their game by being more consistent in specific areas on the course. They also have the ability to provide strong support to our seniors in leading our team on and off the course.”

Nebraska’s sophomore class is led by Leah Herzog. Herzog  joined fellow Minnesotan Smith as the only Huskers to compete in all 17 rounds last season. Along the way, Herzog produced the fifth-best stroke average (76.65) by a freshman in school history. Herzog’s season was highlighted by a 66 (-6) in the opening round of the Golfweek Conference Challenge, which was the best round by a freshman in school history.

Herzog enjoyed a solid summer, which included a tie for seventh at the Minnesota Women’s Amateur. She has added strength in the offseason, which should not only help her length but also her stamina on the course. 

“Leah is bigger and stronger and you can just see it in all parts of her game on the course,” Johnson said. “Not only is she hitting the ball farther but she has more confidence, is attacking the course a bit more, and is able to sustain both physically and mentally longer out on the course. She is doing a great job of finding ways to improve every day.”

Fellow sophomore Nicole Hansen enters her third season with the Huskers hoping to contribute. An outstanding all-around athlete, Hansen is one of the biggest hitters on the Nebraska roster and is gaining experience in all aspects of competition.

Nebraska’s freshman class of three talented golfers all have the potential to make major impacts for the Big Red in the spring of 2021.

Michaela Vavrova made the biggest first impression among the freshmen in the fall by making the cut at the 2020 Nebraska Open – a tournament filled with male professionals and men’s collegiate players on a 6,599-yard course at the Elks Country Club in Columbus.

Vavrova, a two-time Slovakian Junior Champion and a long-time member of the Slovakian National Team, brings extensive international experience with her to Lincoln and is ready to compete for an immediate lineup spot.

“Mischka is a talented player and a great young competitor,” Johnson said. “She has really good length off the tee and manages the course very well for a player her age. She doesn’t give many shots away and she doesn’t back down on the course. Her work habits are also contagious, so we think she has a great future as a Husker.”

Lindsey Thiele continues an unmatched family legacy with Husker women’s golf. Thiele, who followed older sisters, Haley and Hannah, is just tapping into her potential. The three-sport Nebraska all-stater out of Bishop Neumann High School in Wahoo is a two-time Nebraska Girls Junior PGA Champion (2015, 2019) and was the runner-up at the 2020 Nebraska Women’s Amateur at the Country Club of Lincoln.

An outstanding student and citizen as well, Thiele was one of just five junior golfers (boys or girls) across the nation to be named to the Optimist Junior Golf All-Scholastic Team in 2019. Thiele also earned a Regents Scholarship to the University of Nebraska for her academic excellence.

The 6-0 Thiele, who finished sixth at the Nebraska Class B High School Boys State Championship in 2019, is hoping to push the more experienced Huskers on the roster for lineup time during the spring.

While Thiele and Vavrova were able to show their abilities during the summer and fall in Lincoln, fellow Andrea Velez waited to join the Huskers until January because of complications caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

One of the top young golfers in Colombia, Velez broke through on the international stage with an 11th-place finish at the Optimist International Junior Golf Championship at Trump National Doral in July of 2019. The 2018 Colombian Junior Champion, Velez has the ability to immediately impact the Husker lineup upon her arrival in Lincoln.

“We’re excited about the growth of the golfers in our program, and we are excited about the talent level of the golfers we have added this season,” Johnson said. “Our players are buying into the consistent approaches required to make improvement a reality.”

The pandemic caused the cancellation of the fall portion of the women’s golf schedule by the Big Ten in 2020, but the Husker gained experience by playing several tournaments as individuals during the fall.