Last April, the Idaho women’s golf team rallied from three strokes back to tie Sacramento State and send the Big Sky Championship to a playoff. The Vandals were nipped by two strokes on the four vs. four No. 18 playoff hole.
A year earlier, Idaho stymied a four-stroke Hornet comeback en route to its first Big Sky Championship since rejoining the conference in 2015 after a 19-year BSC hiatus.
This weekend, the Vandals return to the Boulder Creek Golf Course in Boulder, Nevada as the second-ranked team in the conference — according to coaches — in hopes they can usurp a red-hot 61st-ranked Sacramento State group.
Idaho is led by junior Sophie Hausmann, who is also on a bit of a streak herself. The German native and first-team all-conference player has recorded a Gold Rush championship and four top-10 tournament finishes this year while nabbing conference Player of the Week honors twice.
She also has experience with the course — this will be the fifth time Idaho has played it since Hausmann saw her first action there as a freshman in 2015. It’s safe to say she understands it.
“It’s a desert course, it can be pretty windy, which makes it quite challenging. There are a couple of water hazards where you just have to pay attention and have a good aim,” Hausmann said. “Hit your drive on the fairway, then it’s a good wedge, within a 130-yard shot where you can … hit it close and make the putts, because the greens are not super challenging compared to other courses we’ve played.”
Hausmann is also abetted by a sterling supporting cast, a group Head Coach Lisa Johnson said has greatly improved its shared confidence. It’s anchored by two juniors and a senior, who have laid a foundation for present and future success from the sophomores and freshman.
Freshman Valeria Patino and junior Michelle Kim have been solid at the second and third spots, often stringing together near-par scores and upper-tier finishes to bolster an overall positive team.
Johnson said one key aspect of her team’s overall game that needed to improve — and has significantly throughout the season — was on the green. Putting has plagued the Vandals off and on throughout the past year, according to Johnson, they’ve had to fine-tune the facet over the last three weeks. But the greens on the links at Boulder Creek offer a sense of comfort.
“It’s not a tough putting course. The greens are fairly large, and there’s just not a lot of slope to them,” said Johnson. “Their speed is pretty average. The approach shots are pretty manageable, so we have our short irons in and we can be aggressive at the flag.”
Johnson said certain courses fit certain styles of play, and her team is accustomed to, and anticipates playing desert courses, partially resulting from their tendency to play in “tree-lined, hilly, wet” courses throughout the season.
The team appreciates an “openness on the tee,” Johnson said and with its practice at Pullman’s Palouse Ridge — another open course — the Vandals feel self-assured going into the conference tournament.
Boulder Creek Golf Course could be described as a driver’s dreamland. Hausmann said it features a few short par 4s, easily manageable for par and par 5s which have eagle potential. But with those unobstructed, eye-catching lanes could come overconfidence.
“After a while it starts to look easy. You think, ‘OK, go for every pin,’” Hausmann said. “Sometimes you have to be a little patient … You have to think, ‘OK, middle of the green is a good place to be.’”
The Vandals are confident, they’ve been working on and improving that aspect over the year. They’ll need that self-reliant attitude and fruitful muscle-memorized strokes to reach the NCAA Regional Tournament. Only one Big Sky team gets in.
Golfstat is the preeminent college golf results provider and relative rankings producer –– what they say, goes, in relation to which teams earn automatic NCAA Regional bids, that is.
Teams that fall out of Golfstat’s general 50-60 team range for automatic bids — varies by the season — must win their conference tournaments to get in. Idaho, ranked 84th, is one of those teams.
Individuals can make it too, but only five to 10 per region, and only one will make it to the national championship.
“Our only option is winning the conference at this point,” Hausmann said. “We are ready.”
Colton Clark can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @coltonclark95