Lady Jackets finish first-ever season strong at GMAC Championship

By Evan Martens

The women’s team took their final trip of the year to Belterra Golf Club, where they finished in seventh place, shooting +138, led by senior graduate student Liz Miller.

This was the first year for the women’s golf program, and it was very up-and-down. Throughout the year, there were very high highs, such as placing second at the Battle at Brunswick, where freshman Kasey Nelson finished fourth, or Miller individually traveling to the NCCAA tournament in the fall. 

There were also very low lows, including a last-place finish at the Total Athlete Intercollegiate to start the fall and at the Greenwood Women’s Invitational. It is hard to know what to expect when the team has five freshmen and one senior graduate student. But even through it all, the season was still successful.

Coming into the tournament, the team just hoped to finish out their first season well by placing well in the GMAC championship. All things considered, the Lady Jackets did that.

Unfortunately, right away, round one got off to a shaky start, with two women not making their first par until their third hole.

Immediately, the women were low on the eleven-team leaderboard and needed to start gaining ground.

After the first four to five holes, it seemed the Jackets began to settle down and play their game.

But one person stood out—Miller caught fire. From hole 14 to hole 6, she was an impressive 5 under.

“My mindset in round one was go yard,” Miller said. “I had a rough start, and figured I might as well start going for the pins. I did my best not to get ahead of myself. Staying focused on the process and pre-shot routine helped me stay grounded in the moment and execute.” 

The team followed closely behind, as Mallory Masterson shot a 9-over 80, one of her best scores of the year.

“I tried to focus more on just getting the ball to the green and not worrying about how far I could hit it,” Masterson said. “After having a rough hole, I knew I couldn’t have another bad hole back-to-back. So, I would really focus over the ball and make sure I could get back in my groove and string some good holes together.”

Allee Forrider shot a 12-over 83.

“I fell into a similar pattern of a good nine/bad nine for most rounds of the spring season,” Forrider said. “I wasn’t scoring on the front because I was missing greens, but I was hitting fairways. I reminded myself to be patient and to not rush myself.” 

“I was also putting well on the front, so I knew that if I kept doing what I was doing, I would see better results on the back. Coach Ritter also kept reminding me to keep at it and have fun.”

Finally, Chloe Gibson rounded out the top four with an 18-over 89.

Going into the next 18, the Lady Jackets knew they had some ground to make up, and once again, Miller kept it going, shooting an impressive 76.

“It was helpful to have rounds 1 and 2 back-to-back on day one. I could keep my momentum moving forward through the round as I was building confidence from good shots and hitting greens. I leaned into the mindset of: I’ve been here. I’ve done well. Let’s do it again,” Miller said.

This time, in second for the team, was Kasey Nelson, who bounced back from round one, shooting a 10-over 81.

“I think the biggest thing for me was just not letting the first round carry over. It’s easy to spiral after a bad round, but I just reminded myself that it’s a fresh start. I tried to focus on one shot at a time instead of thinking about my score or what went wrong earlier,” Nelson said. 

“I also went back to the basics—trusting my swing, sticking to my routine, and just playing confident. Once I settled in and stopped overthinking, everything started to click a lot better in the second round.”

Mallory Masterson once again followed close behind with a 12 over 83, with a round where it felt like momentum was hard to come by.

Allee Forrider rounded it out with a 16 over 87.

Going into round three, the ladies sat in a tie for sixth, hoping to most likely jump one or two spots on the leaderboard.

While Miller shot another impressive round of 6 over 77, the rest of the team could follow behind.

“I kept this mindset for round three as well,” Miller said. “I knew I was higher on the leaderboard, but I did my best not to dwell on it. I wanted to finish my collegiate career having fun, and I did just that. It was cool to go out with my lowest 54-hole score of +15 and set a personal record with three consecutive rounds in the 70’s,” Miller said.

For the final time of the year, Masterson finished with another score in the low 80’s, shooting a 12 over 83.

Kasey Nelson, close behind, shot a 15 over 86, and finally Chloe Gibson shot a 19 over 90.

Ultimately, the women’s first season went better than expected and is a stepping stone to what is to come.

Evan Martens is a freshman broadcasting journalism major with a minor in business marketing. He loves playing any and all sports and going to the gym.