Written by Emma McDaris // Photo provided by Todd Winnings
The Harding women’s golf team competed and placed in a local golf tournament that featured over 10 universities beginning their spring season.
The women’s golf team competed in the Natural State Golf Classic Feb. 26-27 at the Cypress Creek Golf Club in Cabot, Ark., and placed fourth as a team, shooting 35-over 611 with additional individual placing. The Natural State Golf Classic featured 11 universities from Arkansas and Missouri. This tournament was the first of the spring season and proved a strong start in 2024 for the team.
Sophomore Brenley Meche tied for 58th overall, shooting 25-over 169.
“Golf has nearly been an everyday part of my life for 10 years,” Meche said. “[The] Natural State golf tournament reminded me that with golf, just as with life, there are great days and sometimes more challenging days. I chose to focus on Isaiah 46 and trust that God may not keep us from challenging times, but as Joel Osteen has said, God would not have let you get into that fire if it was not leading you to a new place, and you will get through the ‘fire’ without the ‘smell of smoke.’”
Others from the team including senior Kodie Winnings and sophomore Madeleine Wilson placed in the top twenty in the tournament and said they looked forward to the season panning out. Winnings shot 8-over 152, which earned her 14th in the rankings.
“I feel pretty good about how I played at our home tournament,” Winnings said. “I mean I tried my best going into it open-minded with no expectations after playing so well the year before. I’m proud of how I handled my mental game and overall think it was a good tournament.”
Wilson, who tied for 16th shooting 9-over 153, said that this tournament would boost energy as the season started.
“I feel like we played very well as a team at that tournament, and it made us realize what we need to work on to improve even more for future tournaments,” Wilson said. “Our fall season was pretty good, we had opportunities to play against teams that would push us to play our best. So far the spring has also been good. We have some nice tournaments lined up in the future, and I’m excited to see what we can do as a team leading to regionals.”
The women’s golf team has four regular tournaments scheduled for the spring season before the GAC regionals and hopes to beat their record that they set in the fall for a 36-hole tournament.
