Baylor Bear Insider
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no open qualifying for last year's U.S. Women's Open that was also moved from June to December.
With only the top 20 on the World's Amateur Golf Rankings receiving exemptions, Baylor All-American Gurleen Kaur didn't get the chance to play at Champions Golf Club in Houston, which is "actually only 15 or 20 minutes from our house," she said.
That disappointment was at least partially washed away last week, when the fourth-year junior shot 2-under-par 142 at Golf Club of Houston to earn one of three qualifying spots for the 76th U.S. Women's Open that will be held June 3-6 at storied Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif. Olympic Club has hosted five U.S. Opens and two PGA Tour Championships.
"I know she was disappointed last year," Baylor coach Jay Goble said, "but I think it's funny how things end up even better, sometimes. I think for her to get an experience at Olympic Club, it's honestly a way better course. To me, it's a better experience to go play a course where they've had multiple U.S. Opens. This is a big-time course."
In a span of just over three months, Kaur will have played "two lifetime bucket-list golf courses," Goble said, after playing in the Women's Amateur at Augusta National, which hosts the Master's.
"And not only does she get to play on them, she gets to play on them in big tournaments," Goble said.
It "feels like a long time coming" Kaur said, after not getting to play at last year's U.S. Open in her own back yard. "But now that I'm playing this year, I'm really excited."
In her first competition since finishing third at last month's Big 12 Championship, Kaur shot even-par 72 in the first round of last Monday's 36-hole qualifier and then made four birdies in a round of 2-under 70 that helped her tie for second in the 79-player field at Golf Club of Houston.
"It was really hot and windy, so the conditions were tough," Kaur said. "The first round, I missed a lot of putts, I had a lot of lip-outs. But, I stayed patient and tried to get it rolling in the second round and made some good birdies coming in on the back 9. So, that really helped."
Kaur had to squeeze the Open qualifier in between her semester final exams before leaving with the 12th-ranked Baylor women's golf team for the NCAA Regional in Baton Rouge, La. The Bears are the No. 3 seed in the 18-team tournament, which was postponed to a Tuesday start because of bad weather.
"It was actually kind of a bad time, because it's right in the middle of finals," Kaur said. "Other than that, I think it was great to get two competitive rounds in right before regionals and know that all of us are playing really well right now."
Baylor has won a school-record six tournaments and earned the program's first-ever No. 1 national ranking. The Bears shot 38-under in winning the Lone Star Invitational by 33 strokes at the Golf Club of Houston and followed that up with a third-place finish at the Big 12 tournament, shooting 17-under par.
"They're playing really good golf," Goble said. "I know we didn't win the Big 12 Championship, but we played solid. We shot a score that would have won any other Big 12 Championship in history. We did what we needed to do, we just got beat. We ran into a buzz saw with Oklahoma State that was on fire that week."
Kaur will be joined at the Baton Rouge Regional by sixth-year senior Elodie Chapelet and freshmen Rosie Belsham, Hannah Karg and Britta Snyder, the same combination that Goble has used most of this season, with fourth-year junior Diane Baillieux going as an alternate.
"I think all of us are extremely excited," Kaur said. "Since we got COVID hit last year, I think it's just been anticipation for postseason. I think we have a great chance of making it to nationals."
Three years ago, Kaur made it to the NCAA Championship as a first-semester freshman. She tied for 12th individually in the 96-player field at 3-under, helping the Bears finish in a tie for eighth, but missing match play in a playoff with Arizona.
"I remember all of it, because it's one of my favorite tournaments and probably the best tournament I've played in college golf, for sure," she said. "It was devastating that we didn't make it through, but hopefully we can get further this year. I think we have a better team than we did my freshman year."
With the NCAA granting an extra year of eligibility because of last year's season being cut short by COVID, Kaur plans to return next year and will graduate in May 2022 with a double major in international management studies and marketing.
"Since I came in January, it wasn't that big of a deal for me to do an extra year of eligibility," she said, "because I would have graduated in December, anyway. So, it's really 4 ½ years for me. I'm planning on playing next year and graduating next May."
Baylor is paired with fourth-ranked LSU and No. 5 Ole Miss for Tuesday's 10 a.m. shotgun start at the University Club. Live scoring is available at NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
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May 11, 2021 at 07:36AM
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