UNA’s golf teams end one of the most successful seasons they have ever played. For their final 2024 tournament, the men’s team finished second at the FAU Golf Invitational in Palm Beach Gardens with a 20-over-par on Oct. 29. The women’s team finished fourth at The Judson in Hattiesburg, Miss., with a 36-over-par.
The men, currently ranked 79 among NCAA Division I, played a total of four Fall tournaments, with two wins and two second place finishes. This season, UNA held four total ASUN Golfer of the Week awards. Xing Luo and Sebastian Bengtsson were named once each, and Andrew Ferworn was named twice in a row.
At FAU, UNA only stayed behind No. 26 South Florida, with a 290-288-294 872, with one stroke of difference from third place Abilene Christian. Bengtsson’s and Ferworn’s contribution for a 5-over-par each guaranteed them a tied tenth individual place of 75 golfers.
Three UNA players performed an eagle, when a golfer takes two strokes less than par to complete a hole. In the first round, Corey Maher, who finished 15, and Ferworn scored a five-par hole in three, Bengtsson did the same at hole ten on the third round. Luo finished 34 with a nine-over-par, and Chase Kaiser finished 56 with a 16-over-par.
At The Judson, the women’s team shot high for the best placement of the season, outdoing their last year’s performance by going up three places for fourth out of ten schools and down seven strokes for a total of 900.
Redshirt sophomore Kerigan Klauber achieved her first-ever top 10 finish out of 60 golfers, completing a four-over-par 220. Klauber performed ten total birdies, with four of them on the final round.
“Kerigan [Klauber] led us at the Judson, this is her third year,” said head coach Neil Self. “So, last year, she gained a lot of experience because she played in every tournament. She is becoming a consistent golfer. She’s learning to handle herself better on the golf course. Her skills have really improved this season.”
Senior Hannah Dees and freshman Sirichaya “Qwan” Chanpen were tied for 19 with a ten-over-par. Dees started with a 6-over-par, 4-over-par on the second round, but brought her and UNA’s rank up with an even-par on the final round. Senior Jahnavi Prakhya finished 24 with a 12-over-par, and Olivia Whittle was 41 with a 23-over-par.
Coach Self said to be proud of the team’s performance; however, work is never done when improvement creates new, higher goals. Self claims the team needs to work on chemistry and playing for each other, and that is crucial for a high-performing team.
“What’s most exciting for me: the fact that we’ve got a lot of players playing really, really well,” said Self. “Now, the downside of that is that we’ve all played well at one point, but I don’t think we’ve all played well at the same time. That’ll be the main thing for us going into Spring. We have a lot to build on, we’ve had a lot of really good individual finishes, but we didn’t really click at the same time.”
Going into the Spring, the ASUN Championship is also in mind. The head coach is confident in the team’s performance on the Huntsville course, having three golfers played there the last two years.
“I want to move up in the rankings. I’d like to see us steadily improve over the course of the Spring,” said Self. “I want us to be the best version of ourselves, whether that be mechanically or mentally. I want us to be the best version of ourselves when we go to the ASUN tournament.”
