The women’s golf team will start its season on Monday at the Boilermaker Classic in West Lafayette, Indiana. After a stellar first season in program history the Wildcats will look to improve this season and ultimately win the Western Athletic Conference tournament after finishing second last season.
On Monday, five players will compete in the Boilermaker Classic, including Manon Guille, sophomore from Aubigny, France, Kate Pickrell, sophomore from Austin, Julia Volmer, freshman from San Antonio, Jiyu Han, sophomore from Cedar Park, and Ryann Honea junior from San Angelo.
Honea will be one of the top players to watch after she qualified for the NCAA Bryan Regional in May and finished 50th. The team will look to carry that momentum into this tournament and throughout the season.
“We had a really strong spring as a team, and even with three new freshman, I think that it gives us a lot of momentum,” Honea said. “We’re just excited to see what we can do this week.”
Volmer will also be someone to watch out for in this tournament after tying for first in the qualifier.
“This is her first qualifier and first college tournament, so she’s one-for-one, and I think that’s really cool,” said Head Coach Rob Bennett.
The Wildcats have not played at the Kampen Golf Course where the tournament will take place. The coaches prepare for this by recreating the yardage that the Wildcats will experience on the course.
“Every time we’ve played this week we’ve tried to get as close to the yardage that the tournament will play at,” Bennett said. “What that means is we feel like we can be ready when we get to that golf course.”
The Wildcats will play against Power 4 universities Alabama, Notre Dame, Michigan and Indiana in this tournament.
“I definitely think that we have a chance to show up and maybe beat some teams that a lot of people have heard of,” Bennett said. “Not a lot of people have heard of Abilene Christian, especially in just our second year of being a golf program. What I’m really hoping to see, finish aside, is just going out with some confidence and showing that we belong.”
After the Wildcats finish the Boilermaker Classic their next tournament will the Red Raider Invitational in Lubbock starting on Sept 24.
