North Texas Daily

Torie Mosley | Staff Writer

The Mean Green women’s golf team ended its fall season Tuesday, Oct. 27 with a 13th place finish in the 36th annual FIU Pat Bradley Invitational in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.

North Texas placed in the top 20 in all four tournaments this fall. Its best finish came in the Price’s Give Em Five Intercollegiate in Las Cruces, New Mexico earlier this month.

“This team has so much potential with the young talent we have,” head coach Barry Niemann said. “Eventually all the hard work will pay off, hopefully in the spring.”

Of the team’s nine players, North Texas has six underclassmen and only one senior. The experience factor is holding the team back just a bit, according to Niemann, but should pick up in the spring and future.

“Golf is all mental,” Niemann said. “We know [the team] can physically play, but the mental aspect has to and will improve moving forward if we want to be as good as we know we are.”

Sophomore Nyca Khaw agrees she could have played better. She started the tournament in Florida slow with an 83 score the first round and bounced back to score a 78 and 74, her lowest score of the season.

“I really need to work on my short game,” Khaw said. “I’ve been hitting too many fairways.”
Khaw finished tied with freshman Kalli Jennings in 53rd place after Jennings shot a third round of 4-over par 76.

The team’s best performance came from junior Eji Kwon. Kwon finished 17th in the tournament, her second top 20 finish of the fall and her ninth of her career.

Coach Niemann said he is proud of the way Kwon has played but just like the team, thinks Kwon could play much better.

“[Kwon] did pretty well in the tournament but I wish she could’ve finished higher than some of the girls in front of her,” Niemann said. “She could have easily finished top 10 and should be finishing top 10 at every tournament.”

The Mean Green sat in 14th place after the second round before bumping up to finish 13th in the third and last round Tuesday. North Texas finished with a final round score of 303, its best of the event.

The Mean Green women’s golf spring season starts February 14-15 at the Texas State Spring Challenge in New Braunfels, Texas.