Confidence high heading into HBU Tournament
3/27/2016 9:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Coming off three straight top-four finishes, including Nicole Budnik's individual title last time out, the Sam Houston State women's golf program heads to the two-day HBU Huskie Women's Intercollegiate, beginning Monday at Houston's Riverbend Country Club.
“The girls have been working really hard,” associate coach Tommy Chain said. “We have been playing some good golf courses, a couple down in The Woodlands. We are focusing on shooting a number and practicing less. We start a three tournament run starting Monday.
“I want them focuses on scores and not changing things. We are playing different courses which challenges them mentality. We want to be ready to emulate what we'll be doing in the next three tournaments.”
Last time out, Budnik captured the 2016 UTRGV Invitational individual championship, winning the event by six strokes while helping the Bearkats, who finished third, move up the team leaderboard for a second consecutive day at McAllen Country Club.
After shooting a first-round 80, Budnik fired a second-round 68, the lowest among the 60-player field and second-lowest in team history. The senior entered Wednesday's final round with a one-stroke lead, before pulling away with a 73, the field's low score once again, finishing 8-over, 221.
“It has to be a tremendous confidence builder for Nicole,” Chain said. “She had talked about being disappointed in a couple events and not winning. I am expecting her to compete for medalist for upcoming events. Nicole leads by example. She practices very hard and has very specific things she works on. That has elevated her this year being three shots better than she had been in the past.”
The individual title was the second this season, along with Heather Shake's Bob Hurley ORU title, and marked the fifth in less than two years for a Sam Houston women's golfer. Budnik led the field with eight birdies and finished 4-over on the course's par-4s, three strokes ahead of the second-place opponent.
Teammate Sarah Black logged her third straight top 25 finish, ending tied for 11th at 21-over, 234. The sophomore shot an opening round 79 followed by a second-round 74 and final-round 81. Black fared particularly well on the courses par-5s, shooting 2-over.
“We've played three tournaments nine rounds and have had five great team scores,” Chain said. “I've talked to them about continuing that. If we can play like that, we will win some more events coming into conference. The confidence is high. Because we've had success, we know we can do it again.”
A season ago at the 6,084-yard Riverbend Country Club, Sam Houston secured fourth with a team total of 306-307-308—921. Sarah Black (71-77-81—229) finished 12th while Budnick (81-76-75—232) took 14th and Celeste Lo (88-81-82—251) secured 46th.
“The course is similar to a lot of courses we play,” Chain said. “It's Bermuda grass and relatively flat. It's not overalls long or difficult. I have had three girls who have played down there and had success. We should be in our comfort zone. I am expecting some good scores down there with the conditions we are used to.”
While last year's event closed out regular-season play, this year, Sam Houston will take part in one more tournament – the Web.com Intercollegiate in Jacksonville, Fla. – before the Southland Conference Championship from April 11-13 at Stonebridge Ranch Country Club in McKinney.
“This is an important time for us,” Chain said. “I really like the fact that we have three weeks in a row with the third one being in conference. You can get in a rhythm with tournament golf. I like the way our schedule has fallen. I think the girls will be battle hardened.”
