Smith Claims Big Ten Weekly Honor

Nebraska’s Kate Smith captured Big Ten Women’s Golfer-of-the-Week honors when she claimed the award on Wednesday, Feb. 3.

Smith, a fifth-year senior from Detroit Lakes, Minn., earned the recognition following her tie for third at the Trinity Forest Invitational in Dallas on Tuesday. Smith closed the 14-team tournament with a four-under-par 68, charging 15 spots up the individual leaderboard in the final round. Smith’s third-round performance included five birdies and an eagle on the par-72, 6,258-yard layout of the Trinity Forest Golf Club.

The only golfers who finished in front of Smith in the talent-laden field were Hannah Karg of Baylor, which entered the tournament as the No. 1 team in the nation, and Oklahoma State’s Maja Stark, who has been ranked as high as the No. 8 player in the Women’s Amateur Golf Rankings.

Smith closed Nebraska’s first team event of the 2020-21 season with a three-over-par 219 (75-76-68). The Big Ten’s 2020 Mary Fossum Award winner for holding the best stroke average relative par across the conference, Smith recently earned an invitation to the second annual Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship (March 31-April 3). The invite was made available to the top-72 women’s amateurs in the world.

Over the summer and fall of 2020, Smith was named the Minnesota Golf Association Women’s Co-Player of the Year after winning the MGA Women’s Amateur Championship. She also competed at the 120th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship in Rockville, Md., where she finished among the top 16 in stroke play and advanced to the round of 32 in match play.