Three members of the Nebraska women’s golf team will compete as individuals at the Big O Classic at Oak Hills Country Club in Omaha on Monday and Tuesday.
Brooke Bream, Ariel Gonzalez and Lena Hassert will take on the 5,952-yard Par-73 course at Oak Hills. The rest of the nationally ranked Husker team will be preparing for the Dale McNamara Invitational in Broken Arrow, Okla., on Oct. 10-11. The
Huskers have played in two tournaments so far this fall, winning the Badger Invitational team title in Wisconsin and finishing second at the Green Wave Classic in New Orleans.
The Big O Classic will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Monday with the first and second rounds, and the final round will begin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Golfers will start on tees 1 and 10. Live scoring will be available at GolfStat.com.
Bream, a redshirt freshman from Phoenix, and Gonzalez, a freshman from Merida, Mexico, will be making their first appearances for the Big Red. Hassert, a sophomore from Kreuzau, Germany, played as an individual in the Green Wave Classic and tied for 72nd with a career-best 232.
Huskers Storm to Badger Invite Title
The last time the Huskers took the course was Sept. 18-20 at the Badger Invitational. In the final round, Kelli Ann Strand charged 16 spots up the individual leaderboard to take a top-five finish and help the Huskers claim the team title.
The Huskers, who entered the final round four strokes behind the leaders from Notre Dame, dominated the field in a stormy day on the 6,248-yard layout of the University Ridge Golf Course in Verona. Nebraska put up the best team round for the second straight day, closing the final eight holes with an even-par 288 to end the tournament at 863 (-1) over three rounds. The Big Red defeated both Notre Dame (874) and Old Dominion (874) by 11 strokes in the final team standings. ODU closed the tournament with a final-round 293 (+5), while the Fighting Irish struggled down the stretch with a 303 (+15).
Strand, a true freshman from Challis, Idaho, carded a final-round 67 (-5) to jump from a tie for 20th into a tie for fourth in the final standings. Strand’s final round included an eagle on No. 16 and three birdies to go along with 14 pars. Strand closed the tournament with a 54-hole score of 213 (-3). She battled her way into the final top five after ending the opening day in a tie for 50th with a 77. Her final-round 67 was the low round of the day and one of just 10 rounds better than par on the final day of the tournament in the 75-player field.
Miu Takahashi added a top-10 individual finish of her own, closing an impressive tournament with an even-par 72. The sophomore from Nasu-machi, Japan, capped the best tournament of her career in eighth place at 215 (-1). Takahashi’s final round included birdies on No. 5, No. 9 and No. 16 to overcome a trio of bogeys, while adding 12 pars. Her three-round total of 215 was three strokes better than her previous career-best 218 (+2), which she set the week before at the Green Wave Classic in New Orleans.
Huskers Enter Top 25 in National Polls
After a tournament title at the Badger Invitational in Wisconsin (Sept. 18-20), the Nebraska women’s golf team captured top-25 national rankings in both the Golfweek and WGCA Mizuno Coaches Poll.
The Huskers, who opened the season with a runner-up finish and a school-record score of 835 (-29) at the Green Wave Classic in New Orleans (Sept. 12-13), are No. 21 in the Golfweek ranking and No. 20 in the Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll.
The Huskers own head-to-head wins over No. 27 Tulsa, No. 40 Illinois, No. 41 Old Dominion, No. 42 Wisconsin, No. 45 Notre Dame, No. 48 Washington State and No. 50 Colorado State, which are ranked in the Golfweek top 50.
Nebraska freshman Kelli Ann Strand is ranked 30th by Golfweek in the individual rankings . She leads the Big Red with a 69.17 stroke average.
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