A year of firsts

JMU women’s golf wins three spring tournaments for the first time in 20 years

By MADI ALLEY The Breeze

The Dukes ended their season placing eighth at the Sun Belt Championship on Tuesday despite going into the tournament as the top seed. It was a surprising end to a historic season, one that rewrote the narrative for JMU women’s golf.

“They really came back with a renewed focus and a drive this spring that I haven’t seen in a while here,” head coach Tommy Baker said.

This is the first JMU women’s golf team in 20 years to win three tournaments in a single season. Across their four tournaments played this spring, the Dukes have racked up three first-place finishes and grabbed second once.

The Dukes kicked off the spring with their first win in Oyster Shuck Match Play on Feb. 14. Redshirt senior Kate Owens went to battle for the Dukes in the final round of the championship, coming back from three holes down in the deciding matchup to lead the Dukes to their first win of the season.

JMU stayed hot, picking up a second-place finish at the River Landing Classic on March 14. After winning this tournament in 2022, the Dukes returned looking to protect their crown. They ended up taking second after falling to UNC Wilmington by three strokes. Junior Kendall Turner led the Dukes and placed third overall out of all golfers.

Fifteen days after the River Landing Classic, JMU clinched its second first-place finish at the Golfweek Intercollegiate on March 29. The Dukes stayed on top as a team throughout the invitational and finished with a team score of 865 (+13).

“Winning is a mindset,” Owens said. “It’s hard to get into that mindset until you do it. And then, I think once you do it, and then you do it again, it starts to become something that you know how to do and you’re comfortable doing instead of something that you really want to do.”

The redshirt senior shot the then-lowest score of the season, shooting a 68 (-3) in her second round. Owens finished T-3 behind Turner, who clinched second place overall.

JMU women’s golf has struggled in the past to piece together complete seasons. The Dukes started their 2022 season with a pair of ninth-place finishes at the The Show at Spanish Trail and the FAU Paradise Invitational and finished the season with a single tournament win at the River Landing Classic on March 8.

“We’re just getting used to winning, and I think that’s exactly where this program needed to be for years,” Owens said. “It’s nice to finally be there.”

JMU added its third win of the spring with a first-place nod at the ECU Ironwood Invitational. The Dukes started day one with their lowest 36-hole start ever and their second-best single round in program history. JMU shot a 283 (-5) in round one to start on top out the gate.

“I think it was more of just, like, it was a matter of time until it all came together and we started doing this,” Owens said.

Junior Amelia Williams etched her name in the record books by picking up the lowest 18-hole and 54-hole scores in JMU history at the ECU Ironwood Invitational. Williams shot a 64 (-8) in her final round of play and carded a cumulative score of 207 (-9) across 54 holes.

“It was a great tournament: I finished first, Kendall placed second and the team won,” Williams said. “So all in all, it was a really memorable tournament.”

Turner’s second-place finish, two strokes behind Williams, helped her set her own record. The junior shot the most rounds of par or better in a single season, tallying three at the Ironwood Invitational to set the new record of 15 in a season.

Owens and junior Haley Quickel helped push the Dukes to their third and final win of the spring on April 4. The pair placed just inside the top 10, finishing T-9 together. Quickel’s performance was her best of the spring campaign, shooting a 7173-72 across three rounds.

“I think that we’ve just played at another level this season that I don’t think we’ve reached in the past,” Quickel said. “It’s a really great memory to have to remember these wins.”

It all came to an end at the Sun Belt Championship, but JMU’s performance in its final tournament doesn’t take away from its success this season.

“To win three times in a season and almost win the fourth one has been insane,” Owens said. “I honestly could have only dreamed of ending that way.”

CONTACT Madi Alley at alleyml@dukes.jmu.edu. For more women’s golf coverage, follow the sports desk on Twitter at @TheBreezeSports.