It had been more than a decade since a K-State women’s golfer finished in the top 10 at the Big 12 Championship.
Junior Madison Talley did more than that as she earned herself a spot on the All Big 12 team, finishing fourth after shooting a 2-under-par 214 at Dominion Country Club in San Antonio over the weekend.
In addition to her tournament success, Talley rewrote some of the K-State record books with her score of 214 over 54 holes, which was the best score recorded by a Wildcat in the Big 12 Tournament. The score also put Talley at eighth in program history.
While Talley showed up strong, it was not a great overall weekend for the team. The Wildcats finished eighth after shooting a 24-over-par 888 as a team. Three strokes separated the Wildcats from sixth place.
“I am very proud of Madison,” K-State head coach Kristi Knight, said. “She had a great Big 12 Championship and season overall. But as a team, that was not the way we wanted to finish today. We did not take advantage of the opportunity.”
K-State finished the first two rounds in fifth place with six strokes between the Wildcats and the fourth-place TCU Horned Frogs.
Sunday did not go well for K-State, however, and the Wildcats shot 299, the worst conference score, plummeting them to second-to-last place.
Juniors Katherine Gravel-Coursol and Paige Nelson tied for 35th with an 11-over-par 227, while sophomore Connie Jaffrey and freshman Chloe Weir tied for 40th after shooting a 12-over-par 228.
Talley will advance to the NCAA regionals as one of 24 players from across the country. This will be the second postseason appearance of her college career.
“Making a regional is a reward for having a great season,” Knight said. “(Assistant coach Stew Burke), and I are proud of her. We are excited to take her down to Baton Rouge and see her play that golf course.”
Talley will be the No. 3 seed at the Baton Rouge Regional in Louisiana on May 5-7 at the University Club.
