Online Desk
The Ole Miss Women’s Golf team continued its impressive fall with a first-place finish at the Jim West Challenge in San Marcos, Texas.
Ole Miss blew out the 15-team field with a program record-low tournament record 28-under 836 total score, which was good for a 10-stroke lead at the end of three rounds. All other teams were kept at bay as second place Texas Tech shot a 18-under 846.
The No. 15 Rebels have medaled in all four tournaments this semester with a tie for third in the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational, a second-place finish in the Illini Women’s Invitational and a win at the Golfweek Conference Challenge.
The team was lead by two top-5 individual finishes in the Lone Star State from juniors Julia Johnson and Conner Beth Ball.
Johnson found herself at the top of the leaderboard with 67 and 69 in the first and second rounds on Sunday. However, the Louisiana native’s 9-under final score was narrowly beat out by Texas State’s Sasikarn Somboonsop, who used a 5-under 67 in the final round to shoot up 11 spots and take the individual trophy.
“It felt great to put myself back in contention this week,” Johnson said. “I think my game is trending in the right direction, and I’m excited to finish the fall season out in Cabo.”
Close behind the runner-up Johnson was another veteran in Ball, who finished tied for fifth place individually with a 7-under 209 for the tournament, good for a new career low.
“Getting into the top five this week felt awesome,” Ball said. “I’ve been working on keeping myself even throughout my round and I felt that I did a great job of that this week. It was great to see some success individually, but even better to see our team get another win this season.”
Senior Kennedy Swann, who was the hero at the Illini Women’s Invitational at Medinah earlier this month, finished tied for 17th with a 4-under 212. Pi-Lillebi Hermansson finished tied for 22nd and Ellen Hutchinson-Kay was the only Rebel to finish over par tied for 43rd.
The tournament win marks the second title of the fall and the sixth title for head coach Kory Henkes at Ole Miss.
The Rebels will head south of the border next for the Battle at the Beach tournament at the Campestre Golf Club in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, from Nov.1-3.
