Sun Devil Athletics
HomeHome
Loading

Women's Golf Leads after 36-Hole Day at Windy City

Live Scoring Opens in a new window
Women's Golf Leads after 36-Hole Day at Windy CityWomen's Golf Leads after 36-Hole Day at Windy City
©Thomas Fernandez Photography
WILMETTE, Ill. - Sun Devil Women's Golf not only survived, but thrived the 36-hole marathon on day one of the Windy City Collegiate Classic.

Arizona State (+3/579) is in first place after two rounds, both of which took place on Monday at Westmoreland Country Club in Wilmette. Head Coach Missy Farr-Kaye's team put together an incredible second round effort, recording the lowest score of the day (-5/283) to move up seven spots and into first place. The Sun Devils have a five stroke lead on second place Virginia and six stroke lead on third place USC, giving them a great chance to win the 19th team championship in the Farr-Kaye era.

All five Sun Devils find themselves in the Top-25 of a 81-golfer field following the conclusion of day one. The group is led by freshman Isla McDonald-O'Brien, who continues her impressive start to her first season in Tempe. McDonald-O'Brien was steady in both rounds, following up an opening 72 (E) with a 71 (-1) to earn a tie for fifth place. She is one of only six golfers under par through 36 holes, an indication of the tough conditions of the course. Right on her heels is junior Beth Coulter, who ended in a tie for seventh place through two rounds. She improved her first round score by four strokes, delivering a 70 (-2) in the afternoon to skyrocket into the Top-10. Speaking of improvement, no one did it better than junior Paula Schulz-Hanssen. She used the short break between rounds to her advantage, shaving eight strokes off her total from the first to second which helped her move into a tie for 11th.

A big reason why Arizona State is in the lead through 36 holes is the well-rounded effort from the entire lineup. Senior Grace Summerhays' consistency continued, as she carded back-to-back 74s (+2) to settle into a tie for 21st. Redshirt sophomore Patience Rhodes is right behind her in a tie for 25th and looks to build off her three stroke turnaround in the afternoon.  Play was suspended in the second round due to darkness, with a few groups left to finish prior to the start of the third round. The Sun Devils will attempt to maintain their lead as the last of three rounds starts tomorrow at 5:57 AM MST.

LIVE SCORING

ROUND BREAKDOWN
Isla McDonald-O'Brien (143/-1/T5)
FIRST ROUND: 72 (E)
BIRDIES (2): Hole 2 (Par 4; 410 yards), Hole 17 (Par 3; 141 yards)
SECOND ROUND: 71 (-1)
BIRDIES (4): Hole 7 (Par 4; 349 yards), Hole 8 (Par 5; 481 yards), Hole 13 (Par 3; 165 yards), Hole 18 (Par 4; 383 yards)

Beth Coulter (144/E/T7)
FIRST ROUND: 74 (+2)
SECOND ROUND: 70 (-2)
BIRDIES (6): Hole 4 (Par 4; 365 yards), Hole 8 (Par 5; 481 yards), Hole 11 (Par 5; 505 yards), Hole 12 (Par 4; 375 yards), Hole 15 (Par 5; 530 yards), Hole 18 (Par 4; 383 yards)

Paula Schulz-Hanssen (146/+2/T11)
FIRST ROUND: 77 (+5)
BIRDIES (3): Hole 6 (Par 4; 319 yards), Hole 8 (Par 5; 481 yards), Hole 14 (Par 4; 384 yards)
SECOND ROUND: 69 (-3)
BIRDIES (4): Hole 6 (Par 4; 319 yards), Hole 7 (Par 4; 349 yards), Hole 8 (Par 5; 481 yards), Hole 12 (Par 4; 375 yards)

Grace Summerhays (148/+4/T21)
FIRST ROUND: 74 (+2)
EAGLES (1): Hole 8 (Par 5; 481 yards)
BIRDIES (1): Hole 5 (Par 3; 150 yards)
SECOND ROUND: 74 (+2)
BIRDIES (5): Hole 6 (Par 4; 319 yards), Hole 7 (Par 4; 349 yards), Hole 10 (Par 4; 408 yards), Hole 14 (Par 4; 384 yards), Hole 17 (Par 3; 141 yards)

Patience Rhodes (149/+5/T25)
FIRST ROUND: 76 (+4)
BIRDIES (4): Hole 1 (Par 4; 350 yards), Hole 6 (Par 4; 319 yards), Hole 11 (Par 5; 505 yards), Hole 17 (Par 3; 141 yards)
SECOND ROUND: 73 (+1)
BIRDIES (2): Hole 11 (Par 5; 505 yards), Hole 18 (Par 4; 383 yards)

QUOTABLES
"Great team effort today from top to bottom," Head Coach Missy Farr-Kaye remarked. "The field didn't finish, so we're not we're not officially done with round two yet, but really proud of this team. We did a lot of things well and made some adjustments in the second round on how to play this golf course as well as possible."

"I just kept telling them to trust yourself and keep your energy up for the day," Farr-Kaye added. "As the day got further, we got better and just had such a really solid finish. All the things we've been talking about and working on showed up. I was so happy to see that this team started to click and do the things that we know that they're capable of doing."

"We still have 18 holes of golf left," Farr-Kaye concluded. "This is a really good field with some great players in it and so we have to keep our heads down and play 18 more holes of great golf. That's the plan for tomorrow."

TEAM STANDINGS

Place Team 1 2 To Par
1 Arizona State 296 283 +3
2 Virginia 292 292 +8
3 USC 294 291 +9


INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS

Place Player 1 2 To Par
1 Jasmine Koo, USC 68 67 -9
T5 Isla McDonald-O'Brien 72 71 -1
T7 Beth Coulter 74 70 E
T11 Paula Schulz-Hanssen 77 69 +2
T21 Grace Summerhays 74 74 +4
T25 Patience Rhodes 76 73 +5

Tee Times
Arizona State will begin the final round of the Windy City Collegiate Classic on Tuesday at 5:57 AM MST, with a new golfer starting their round every nine minutes on Hole 10. ASU will once again be paired with Duke and Oregon with tee times remaining identical from the morning session of the first day.
 
PAIRING Duke, Oregon
HOLE 10
TIME (MST)  GOLFER
5:57 AM Isla McDonald-O'Brien
6:06 AM Grace Summerhays
6:15 AM Beth Coulter
6:24 AM Paula Schulz-Hanssen
6:33 AM Patience Rhodes

The Competition (Golf Channel Preseason Rankings)
The Windy City Collegiate Classic once again features one of the most decorated fields in all of collegiate golf. Preseason ranked teams include #3 USC, #4 UCLA, #5 South Carolina, #8 Oregon, #9 Arizona State, #10 Northwestern, #14 Arizona, #15 Wake Forest, #20 Virginia, and #22 Duke. In total, 10 of the GOLF Channel's preseason Top-25 teams in the country will be in Illinois for the event.

In the Field (15 Teams): Arizona, Augusta, Duke, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa State, Northwestern (Host), Oregon, Purdue, South Carolina, UCLA, USC, Virginia, Wake Forest

The Format
Holes: 
54 (36 Day 1, 18 Day 2)
Days: 2 (Mon-Tues.)
Scoring: 5 count 4
Par: 72
Yardage: 6,491

The Course
Westmoreland Country Club was founded back in 1911. Over the years, the club has hosted a number of prestigious golf tournaments. That includes the 1917 Western Open, the 1921 Western Amateur, the 1924 & 1934 Western Golf Association's Junior Girls Tourney and the 42nd annual U.S.G.A. Women's Amateur Championship in 1938. 

History at Windy City Collegiate
Arizona State will be back in a familiar spot when they return to the Windy City Collegiate, competing in the tournament in five of the past seven years. This will be the sixth overall appearance for the Sun Devils at the Windy City Collegiate Championship, first competing in the event in 2015.

In 2019, Arizona State finished in fourth place as a team lead by Top-10 finishes from Linn Grant (6th) and Alessandra Fanali (10th). In 2018, Raquel Olmos earned a career-best finish at this event, as she posted a 207 (-9) which was good enough for second place. Her second round score of 66 was a career-low, with her first collegiate hole-in-one coming on the 13th hole. The Sun Devils finished in second as a team thanks to Olmos' effort.

During the 2017 edition, Olivia Mehaffey matched her career-low (65) in the first-round. Arizona State took home the team championship that year, with Linnea Strom and Olivia Mehafffey earning Top-10 finishes. The program has fond memories of the Windy City area, having won the 2017 National Championship in nearby Sugar Grove, Illinois.

2024-25 Arizona State Women's Golf Schedule
Arizona State will be tested throughout the campaign as Coach Farr-Kaye built one of the nation's toughest slates once again. The Maroon and Gold will compete in a total of ten regular season events, five in the Fall and five in the Spring. The postseason begins April 15 at the Big 12 Championship, with NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships scheduled for the month of May.

ANNIKA Intercollegiate – Sept. 9-11 (Lake Elmo, MN)
Mason Rudolph Championship – Sept. 20-22 (Franklin, TN)
Windy City Collegiate Classic – Sept. 30 - Oct. 1 (Wilmette, IL)
Stanford Intercollegiate – Oct. 18-20 (Stanford, CA)
Nanea Invitational - Oct. 28-30 (Kailua-Kona, HI)
Match in the Desert – January 27 (Gold Canyon, AZ)*
Therese Hession Regional Challenge – Feb. 2-4 (Palos Verdes, CA)
Darius Rucker Intercollegiate – March 3-5 (Hilton Head Island, SC)
Clover Cup – March 10-12 (Litchfield Park, AZ | Wigwam Golf Club)*
PING/ASU Invitational – March 28-30 (Phoenix, AZ | Papago Golf Club)*
Big 12 Championship – April 15-17 (Hockley, TX)
NCAA Regionals – May 5-7 (Columbus, Ohio; Lexington, Kentucky; Norman, Oklahoma; Lubbock, Texas; Charlottesville, Virginia; Gold Canyon, Arizona)*
NCAA Championship – May 16-21 (La Costa, CA; Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, Champions Course)
Italicized = Home Tournament
*Held in the state of Arizona

Empty the Notebook
  • Arizona State is one of ten teams that made the 2024 NCAA Championship and returns four members from that team. 
  • The Sun Devils will face a team in the Top-10 of GOLF Channel's preseason rankings a total of 28 times this year.
  • Missy Farr-Kaye enters her ninth season as the Head Coach of Sun Devil Women's Golf. She is tied with Bobby Hurley (Men's Basketball) and Greg Powers (Hockey) as the second-longest tenured Sun Devil Athletics Head Coach. She trails only Zeke Jones, who is getting ready for his 10th year at the helm of the Sun Devil wrestling program.
  • ASU has the chance to play in the state of Arizona up to four times this year. Regular season events have them playing Superstition Mountain Golf Club (Gold Canyon), Wigwam Golf Club (Litchfield Park), and Papago Golf Club (Phoenix). Should they qualify for a regional, the Sun Devils would compete at Superstition Mountain Golf Club a second time, serving as one of six regional hosts.
Best rounds in 2024-25
67/-5 Paula Schulz-Hanssen (Mason Rudolph Championship Third Round/Sept. 22, 2024)
67/-5 Patience Rhodes (Mason Rudolph Championship Second Round/Sept. 21, 2024)
68/-4 Isla McDonald-O'Brien (Mason Rudolph Championship Third Round/Sept. 22, 2024)
68/-4 Patience Rhodes (Mason Rudolph Championship First Round/Sept. 20, 2024)
68/-4 Beth Coulter (ANNIKA Intercollegiate Third Round/Sept. 11, 2024
68/-4 Paula Schulz-Hanssen (ANNIKA Intercollegiate Third Round/Sept. 11, 2024)
68/-4 Patience Rhodes (ANNIKA Intercollegiate First Round/Sept. 9, 2024)
69/-3 Paula Schulz-Hanssen (Windy City Collegiate Classic Second Round/Sept. 30, 2024)
70/-2 Beth Coulter (Windy City Collegiate Classic Second Round/Sept. 30, 2024)
70/-2 Beth Coulter (ANNIKA Intercollegiate Second Round/Sept. 10, 2024)
70/-2 Patience Rhodes (ANNIKA Intercollegiate Third Round/Sept. 11 2024)
70/-2 Paula Schulz-Hanssen (Mason Rudolph Championship First Round/Sept. 20, 2024)
70/-2 Beth Coulter (Mason Rudolph Championship First Round/Sept. 20, 2024)
13 TOTAL ROUNDS OF 70 OR LOWER

Birdies by Sun Devil (2024-25 Season totals)
Paula Schulz-Hanssen (32 birdies)
Patience Rhodes (30 birdies; 1 eagle)
Beth Coulter (28 birdies)
Isla McDonald-O'Brien (28 birdies)
Grace Summerhays (23 birdies; 3 eagles)
Total (141 birdies; 4 eagles)

Career appearances
Grace Summerhays, 36 (33 stroke; 3 match)
Beth Coulter, 27 (24 stroke; 3 match)
Paula Schulz-Hanssen, 27 (24 stroke; 3 match)
Patience Rhodes, 14 (12 stroke; 2 match)
Isla McDonald-O'Brien, 3 (3 stroke)
Total 102 (91 stroke; 11 match)

Career Top-20 Finishes 
Grace Summerhays, 14 (7 Top-10)
Paula Schulz-Hanssen, 12 (4 Top-10)
Beth Coulter, 9 (3 Top-10)
Patience Rhodes, 6 (3 Top-10)
Total 41 (17 Top-10)

Elite Company
The Sun Devils are one of just eight Division I Women's Golf teams to earn a spot at NCAA Regionals every year for the past 31 seasons. Only traditional powers Arizona State, Arizona, Duke, Florida, Stanford, USC, UCLA and Wake Forest have qualified for a regional each time since the postseason format changed in 1993. Arizona State is one of only five schools to receive a Top-3 seed in each of the last four NCAA Regional selections. They are joined by only Wake Forest South Carolina, LSU, and USC in this exclusive group, an indicator of the consistent success of Coach Farr-Kaye's program.

A Tradition Like No Other
During the past five decades, many of the premier amateur women's golfers have called Arizona State University home. Arizona State won its NCAA-leading eighth national championship title in 2017 to reinforce its standing as the premier women's golf school in the United States. Under legendary Head Coach Linda Vollstedt, the program became the first in women's collegiate golf to win six championships in a decade (1990, '93, '94, '95, '97, '98). ASU remains the lone program to ever capture three national titles in a row (1993, '94, '95). The Sun Devil Golf programs did something in 1990 that had never been done before and hasn't been accomplished since. ASU swept both the Men's and Women's Team National Titles in 1990, becoming the first school to capture both championships in the same year.

Here for the Long Haul
Sun Devil Athletics was thrilled to extend four of its head coaches back in December of 2023, including Women's Golf Head Coach Missy Farr-Kaye. Entering her ninth year with ASU, Farr-Kaye has been extended through the 2027-28 athletic calendar. She completed the trifecta in 2017, becoming the first individual in NCAA history to win a National Championship as a player, assistant coach, and head coach at the same school.

"The Bird"
The Thunderbirds Golf Complex, designed by Douglas Fredrickson Architects and built by Rummel Construction Inc., is a 7,000-square foot facility featuring a grand entry lobby, national championship displays, a team gym and locker rooms for both men's and women's teams, a fueling station, study lounge, team lounge, indoor hitting bays and more. Designed by Sun Devil alumnus and five-time PGA Major Championships winner Phil Mickelson, who is known for his short-game expertise, the four-acre practice area consists of five practice greens, four practice bunkers and a three-acre fairway and rough designed to practice every possible golf shot. On Nov. 1, 2018, Papago Golf Course became the new home for Sun Devil Men's & Women's Golf with the unveiling of their new state-of-the-art practice facility -- The Thunderbirds Golf Complex -- through the generous commitment by The Thunderbirds organization. Arizona State, in partnership with The Thunderbirds, Arizona Golf Community Foundation, the City of Phoenix and Phil Mickelson Design, revitalized the course and helped build the Lou Grubb Clubhouse and Lou's Bar & Grill.

Fantastic Five
Patience RhodesGrace SummerhaysPaula Schulz-Hanssen, and Beth Coulter all return having gained another year of valuable experience. Highly-touted incoming freshman Isla McDonald-O'Brien joins the program, forming a talented 2024-25 roster under the direction of Head Coach Missy Farr-Kaye and Assistant Coach Mikayla Tatman.

How to Follow
Live scoring for the Windy City Collegiate Classic can be found at the following link. For the latest updates and information on the Sun Devil Women's Golf program, follow our Twitter/Instagram accounts (@SunDevilWGolf), like our Facebook page (facebook.com/sundevilwgolf/), and visit our website (sundevils.com). Find Coach Farr-Kaye (@missymkaye) and Coach Tatman (@CoachMikayla_) on X as well.