The Kansas State women’s golf team produced a final-round score of 8-under par 280 on Wednesday but finished just short of its second championship of the season as the Wildcats closed out the fall with a second-place finish in the Rainbow Wahine Invitational held at the par-72, 6,231-yard Kapolei Golf Club.
K-State concluded the event with a three-round total of 20-under par 844 (276-288-277), the second-best 54-hole score in school history and best of the fall season. The Wildcats were down by as many as nine shots in the final round before battling back to get within two during the closing holes, but K-State finished just three shots behind tournament champion Colorado State.
With a win at the season-opening Powercat Invitational and consecutive second-place finishes at the Ron Moore Intercollegiate and in Hawai‘i, the Wildcats’ three top-two showings this fall are already the most for an entire season since the 2014-15 campaign.
“It was a good fight back today from the ladies after a really slow start,” head coach Stew Burke said in a written statement. “I am proud of the way we responded to some bad breaks early on and really kept the pressure on Colorado State through the back 9. We continue to excel and perform well in difficult conditions. We just really missed a little bit of the cutting edge to help us to the victory. The ladies are obviously very disappointed with their second-place finish for the second event in a row. However, they should be really proud of how they represented themselves and the program all fall. We look forward to working hard this offseason and coming out stronger in the spring.”
Kansas State received three under-par rounds on Wednesday from the same three individuals the day prior in seniors Carla Bernat and Sophie Bert and freshman Nanami Nakashima.
Bernat went under par in all three rounds, including a score of 2-under par 70 on Wednesday as she finished in second place with a 54-hole score of 10-under par 206 (69-67-70). A native of Castellon, Spain, Bernat finished just two shots behind individual winner Lacey Uchida of Colorado State as her total of 206 was the third-lowest individual 54-hole score in school history and her lowest as a Wildcat. She finished the event tied for first place in the field in par-3 scoring (-4) and tied for third in total birdies (13).
Bernat now has nine top-five finishes as a Wildcat to tie for second place in school history, while she has 10 finishes in the top 10 to tie for sixth.
Bernat began her final round at 2-over par following bogeys on Nos. 3 and 6, but she closed the opening 9 holes with three-straight birdies to get to 1-under par. She then went bogey-free with a birdie on No. 12 on the back 9 for her final 2-under par total.
Bert produced her third round in the 60s this season with a team-best final round of 4-under par 68. The East Tennessee State transfer carded six birdies on the day, which included a clean 3-under par front 9. The final-round performance moved her eight spots up the leaderboard into a tie for seventh place at 5-under par 211 (73-70-68). It was her fourth top-10 finish in five events this season.
Nakashima, a product of Kano, Japan, registered a 2-under par 70 final round, the second-straight day she went under par as she tied for 11th place at 4-under par 212 (74-68-70). The freshman finished second in the field with 14 birdies over the three rounds, while she tied for second in par-5 scoring (-6). Nakashima was able to rebound from a double bogey on her second hole of the day to go 4-under par with five birdies the rest of the way
Sophomore Alenka Navarro recorded her second-straight round of even-par 72 on Wednesday. She finished with a three-round total of 1-over par 217 (73-72-72) to tie for 24th place. Junior Noa van Beek tied for 48th place at 8-over par 224 (72-74–78).
Kansas State’s spring schedule opens with the Puerto Rico Classic, February 2-4, held at Grand Reserve GC in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.
