WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – In what was the lowest-scoring weekend in the history of Wesleyan women's golf, the Cardinals managed a fourth place finish out of 20 teams competing at the Williams Fall Invitational. Amherst took the crown with a 587 over the two rounds, followed by NYU (597), Williams (600), and Wesleyan (602).
The 602-stroke total is a weekend (2 round) low for the Cardinals, eclipsing the previous team record of 612 set on March 30-31, 2024 at the Vassar Invitational. In addition, Wesleyan's 293 (+9) round 1 total on Saturday marked the first time in program history that the Cardinals posted a sub-300 round. The previous low-round on a single day was a 302 shot on round 3 of the 2025 NESCAC Tournament this past spring.
The fourth-place finish on the team leaderboard saw the Cardinals place third-best among all eight NESCAC programs in contention on the weekend. Wesleyan was just five strokes behind runner-up NYU and two behind Williams, both of which are Top 10 nationally ranked teams. The Cardinals placed ahead of Middlebury, Hamilton, Wellesley, Bowdoin, and Randolph-Macon, all of which are Top 25 ranked teams in the latest WGCA Coaches Poll.
The Cardinals were led by
Amanda Phillips '28 who opened with a 76 (+5) on Saturday, which was fourth-best on the team, before firing in a 74 (+3) on Sunday to finish with a 150 (+8) over the weekend. Phillips landed in a tie for 11
th place out of 99 golfers on the player leaderboard, finishing with five birdies and 19 pars across the 36 holes. She finished with a seven-hole streak of par or better to complete her round 2 on Sunday.
Kayla Howell '26 was consistent throughout the weekend, finishing in a tie for 15
th place with a 74 (+3) followed by a 77 (+6) to shoot 151 (+9) overall. Howell had two birdies in each round and accumulated 20 pars over the 36 holes.
Grace Wu '29 put together a sensational round, shooting 72 (+1) on Saturday in a performance that saw her record 14 pars and two birdies. Wu finished that round with a streak of 11 straight holes going par or better while she shot -2 in that 11-hole stretch on Saturday. Wu followed with a 79 (+8) on Sunday that saw her fire in four birdies, bringing her weekend total to a team-leading six birdies. Wu joined Howell in a tie for 15
th place.
Mia Rodgers '29 had the low round of the weekend for Wesleyan, firing in an even par 71 on Saturday. The 71 strokes matches a program record for lowest stroke total in a single round as she had 13 pars and three birdies in round 1. Rodgers followed with an 81 (+10) on Sunday, adding three more birdies to her weekend total, and placing her in a tie for 21
st place.
Rounding out the lineup was
Mia Holbrook '27 who shot 76 (+5) on Saturday and 79 (+8) on Sunday to shoot +13 for the weekend. Holbrook had two birdies on Saturday and eagled the par 5 18
th hole on Sunday to help give the Cardinals the fourth-place finish in the team standings.
Wesleyan was the sixth-best team in the tournament on par 3s, averaging 3.48, while the Cardinals ranked third in par 4s (4.28), and tied for 7
th on par 5s (4.97). The Cardinals posted the third-most birdies of any team in the field at 23, had the sixth-most pars (96), and sixth-fewest bogeys (49).
The Cardinals finish up the fall portion of the team's schedule next weekend with a trip to Bowdoin for the Polar Bear Shootout.
