Houston women’s golf opens spring slate with a third-place finish in the Collegiate Individual

Houston women’s golf made a strong return to competition in the spring semester by finishing third as a team and placing two players inside the top 10 at the Collegiate Individual at Guadalajara Country Club presented by Babygrande Golf.

Competing in their first event since late October, the Cougars steadily climbed the leaderboard throughout the weekend, which featured a unique format of 27 holes on Friday and 27 on Saturday.

Junior Maelynn Kim led the Cougars with a standout final round, firing a bogey-free 5-under 67 to tie for second individually. 

Kim quickly moved under par early in the round and caught fire on the back nine, recording four birdies over a five-hole stretch. 

Her performance helped her finish the tournament at 3-under 213, matching the second-best score in the field individually.

Senior Moa Svedenskiöld joined Kim among the tournament’s top performers, tying for sixth at 2-under 214. 

The Sweden native set the tone for Houston early, opening the event with a 4-under 68 in the first round that allowed her to tied for second after the opening day. 

She began the spring season with three straight birdies, and she maintained her position near the top of the leaderboard throughout the event.

As a team, the Cougars posted their best round of the tournament in the final round, carding a 5-under 283 to move into third place overall with a total score of 873. 

Florida State captured the team title at 868, followed by Oklahoma State at 871, while Virginia finished fourth.

Senior Natalie Saint Germain placed 21st at 222, while sophomore Emilia Väistö followed and tied for 23rd at 224. 

Freshman Sadie Adams, competing in her first event that counted toward the team score, finished tied for 53rd at 235.

The Guadalajara event was Houston’s first team competition since finishing seventh at the Landfall Tradition in North Carolina in October.

Houston now turns its attention to hosting the Chevron Collegiate at the Golf Club of Houston on Feb. 23-24.