ISU women’s golf to face five top-10 teams at Stanford Intercollegiate

Mike Randleman

With one tournament remaining in its fall season, the No. 36 ISU women’s golf team will have the chance to prove itself against an NCAA Championship-caliber field.

Five top-10 teams in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings will convene at the Stanford Intercollegiate on Oct. 17, along with the previous three NCAA individual national champions.

Freshman Celia Barquin, who is coming off of a career-best third-place finish at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational, said that the ISU women’s golf team should be in good form to compete with the likes of No. 1 Washington and No. 4 Stanford.

Though the Cyclones finished in seventh place as a team at the BRLH, Barquin said her and her teammates are not far off from a high finish.

“It’s a tournament where we’re playing against really, really good teams,” Barquin said. “I will try my best to have a good tournament. We’ve been practicing a lot; we’re all in good form. I think we’ll be at the top.”

Instead of focusing on its middle-of-the-pack result in Texas, Iowa State will hope to find similar results that it achieved at the Windy City Collegiate Classic on Oct. 7, where it knocked off two top-10 teams en route to finishing in third place.

Before the Cyclones prepare for the stern test awaiting them in Palo Alto, Calif., however, they had some time to relax.

In the midst of a 10-day period away from Ames and a stretch of three tournaments in 13 days, the team took the day off on Oct. 15 to unwind in San Francisco.

“It’s great. We had a day today so we went around and relaxed,” said senior Chonlada Chayanun. One of the team’s travels included visiting the Golden Gate Bridge. “I actually like [being on the road]; I love to travel.”

After having a day off to explore San Francisco, the Cyclones had the next day to prepare for a course (Stanford Golf Club) that is new to all five starters.

While the Cyclones lack the ability to draw from experience of playing at this event in years past, the inexperience that freshmen Barquin and Nattapan Siritrai, has not kept them from posting high finishes.

One of the two has either led or co-led the team in all three events thus far and both have third-place finishes to their names.

Finding continued success from Barquin and Siritrai will be even more crucial this week as Chayanun continues to nurse an injured wrist stemming from tendonitis that developed early this summer.

Her pain did not stop her from setting the ISU program record for lowest 18-hole score in the first round of the BRLH, a 65, but she struggled in the final two rounds and posted rounds of 85 and 76 to fall from a tie for first to a tie for 14th.

“The first day it hurts, but when I was out on the course I didn’t do anything besides hitting my best tee shots. It hurts, but I have to get over my pain,” Chonlada said. “I tried to talk to other players that were playing with me instead of focusing on my pain. In the second round and third round it hurt, too.”

With the injury not expected to worsen, Chayanun said she will give it a go for the Stanford Intercollegiate, but will likely sit out much of the practice round.

Along with Barquin, Chayanun and Siritrai, junior Cajsa Persson and freshman M.J. Kamin will round out Iowa State’s starting lineup.

The first round will begin 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 17.