WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Wesleyan women's golf team shined across the 54-hole, three-day NESCAC Championship as the Cardinals turned in a 312-292-321-925 (+73) to finish in fourth place out of eight teams in the tournament. Amherst came-from-behind to defeat runner-up Middlebury and third place Williams by one and two strokes, respectively, to win the title.
Competing as a team in the NESCAC Championship for just the second time in program history, the Cardinals improved two spots from last year's sixth place finish at NESCAC's. The Cardinals were just seven strokes off the first place team after round 1 on Friday and fired in a team record low round on Saturday in round 2 to sit just eight strokes behind the day 2 leader Middlebury before finishing in fourth place.
As a team, Wesleyan fired in 31 birdies, the second-most of any team in the field and just one off Williams' 32 for the 54-hole tournament.
Amanda Phillips '28 tied for fifth place on the player leaderboard out of 39 golfers, leading the Cardinals with a 75-71-79 (+12) as the sophomore shot sub-80 in all three rounds despite dealing with frigid temperatures across Friday and Sunday's action. Her opening round 75 was tied for the third-lowest round of any golfer in the field in Friday's action while she shot an even par 71 on Saturday. Phillips finished with eight birdies, including four on Saturday alone, while she had 10 pars in both round 1 and 2. This gives Phillips back-to-back Top 10 finishes in two career appearances at the NESCAC Championships as she finished in ninth place as a first-year in 2025.
Grace Wu '29 was outstanding in her first career NESCAC Championship, finishing in 74-72-82 (+15) in a tie for 10
th place. Wu sat in second place on the player leaderboard following an opening round 74 (+3) that featured three birdies and nine pars with no holes worse than a bogey. Wu followed with a second round 72 (+1) that again featured three birdies with 11 pars before finishing with an 82 (+11) on Sunday in a round that saw her total three birdies to give her a team-leading nine for the tournament.
Kayla Howell '26 had the round of the tournament for Wesleyan, firing in a 70 (-1) on Saturday to catapult her up the player leaderboard. Howell finished 80-70-79 (+16) which was good enough for a tie for 12
th place. The senior totaled eight birdies including four on Saturday in a tremendous round that saw her shoot 11 pars and just three bogeys with no score worse than bogey on the day.
Mia Rodgers '29 was consistent across the tournament in her debut at the NESCAC Championships, shooting 83-83-81 (+34) to finish tied for 30
th. Rodgers had 10 pars on Friday while she had her first two birdies of the tournament coming on the 1
st and 18
th holes on Sunday.
Mia Holbrook '27 rounded out the field for Wesleyan as she finished in a tie for 32
nd place with an 85-79-84 (+35). Holbrook had 11 pars and one birdie on Saturday while she had four birdies over the tournament.
Wesleyan awaits their NCAA Championship fate on Monday.
