Nerves were the name of the game for the KSU women’s golf team this past week at the Atlantic Sun Conference Championships at Venetian Bay Golf Club in New Smyrna, Fl.
The Owls, led by junior Ket Preamchuen, held a significant lead over East Tennessee State as they headed into the final day of the three-round tournament.
Posting a final score of 871, +7, the Black and Gold were able to fend off a fierce rally by ETSU to bring home its first Atlantic Sun Conference championship in team history.
“I was pretty confident. Every season I expect to win, but this one in particular,” said head coach Rhyll Brinsmead. “The recruiting class I was able to bring in this year is just awesome. We’ve got four freshman. We had the number one ranked freshman class in the nation, so, anything less than a win would have been disappointing.”
“Obviously it went as well as we hoped, coming back with the championship. It was a really nervous third round. We went into the day six up. I think we go to ten up and then ETSU cut the lead to one with about six holes to play. The girls really pushed hard and were steady, making pars and ETSU kind of folded down the stretch, so we stuck with the gameplan and it worked out well,” said Brinsmead.
The Owls got off to an impressive start to the tournament, recording a score of 284 on the second day to take a six-stroke lead into the final 18 holes of play.
Preamchuen, who has been in the spotlight as a very successful amateur individual player since arriving at KSU, admitted her nerves were extremely high as she teed up first the first time on the final day.
“We had a really good start the first day. The second day was ever better,” said Preamchuen. “We were leading after the second round, so on the final day everyone was nervous and excited that we didn’t even want to have to play the last round.”
“I told coach I was nervous, and she said it was good to realize you are nervous so you can just play your game. At the first hole my hands were shaking. I made bogey, but after that there was a pretty good flow and I really put myself under control,” said Preamchuen.
Those nerves were made apparent on the first hole, as Preamchuen opened with a bogey.
The Owls collective lead was compromised at the tenth hole, when three bogeys for KSU and three birdies by ETSU allowed the Lady Buccaneers to get neck and neck with the Owls down the stretch.
KSU did nothing fancy, but hit greens and made putts just enough to hold onto the victory in the final three holes.
“With about three holes to play, Ket was very tight and I could tell the team was all very nervous,” said Brinsmead. “I just told her to hit the middle of the green and she did that on 16, 17 and 18. She didn’t have to do anything spectacular.”
Preamchuen finished the tournament in fourth place on the individual leaderboard with a final score of even par.
The best score for the Owls was posted on the second day when Ines Lescudier was able to make up for a +7 first round by finishing with a team best -4 in round two. Lescudier would have the best score on the final day as well, posting a -2.
Mercer’s Lacey Fears and ETSU’s Gabriella Wahl tied for the best individual score at -3 for the tournament.
At the end of day three, KSU finished four strokes ahead of ETSU.
“In golf, like in any sport, you can feel the momentum shift happen and you could see ETSU was just rolling with it, making putts, but we were able to get our feet back in the ground down the stretch and that’s how you win championships,” said Brinsmead.
With the victory, the Owls have sealed a spot in the NCAA regionals. Had KSU not come out of the conference tournament victorious, it would have had to wait and see if it would earn and at-large bid.
Brinsmead seemed relieved to not have to deal with that suspense. “It was important for us to win this and secure a regional bid,” said Brinsmead. “I didn’t want to have to wait three weeks to see if we got an at large, so we kind of get to sit back and relax.”
“We’re super excited. We played the first conference tournament of the season, so we have a long time to rest before regionals. I’ve given the girls off until Wednesday because I really want them to sit back and enjoy this,” said Brinsmead.
To qualify for nationals, the Owls will need to finish as one of the top eight teams from each regional, and Brinsmead insisted that the team is, “capable of doing that.”
KSU fans should be delighted to see such a strong showing from another varsity team. Despite being Atlantic Sun Conference members for roughly seven years, the teams this fall are all seeing considerable success.
KSU’s men’s golf team will try to defend its Atlantic Sun Conference title from a year ago this week, while the baseball and softball teams are both fighting and owning first place in the conference standings, respectively.