OCU, Kamas prevail against D-1 field in Payne Stewart Memorial
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Top-ranked Oklahoma City University collected its first win ever in the Missouri State/Payne Stewart Memorial on Tuesday at Rivercut Golf Course.
The Stars, ranked No. 1 in the Women’s Golf Coaches Association NAIA top 25, earned their first win against an NCAA Division I field since the North Texas Classic on Sept. 10-11, 2007 in Robson, Texas. Maddi Kamas snagged her fourth career win.
Oklahoma City made it two wins in a row to start the season with a scorecard tiebreaker win over Missouri State. The Stars’ final score was 300-294-285–879. The Stars had the best final round out of all 15 schools that participated at 3 under. Missouri State had a score of 296-294-289–879. Overall, OCU shot 15 over for the tournament.
Kamas carded a 1-under-par 74-73-68–215. Kamas was the only competitor to go under par to end the tournament. She had half of her 12 birdies in the final round. Kamas, a sophomore from Kingfisher, Okla., went bogey free until hole No. 9. Her only other bogey was on hole No. 12. Two golfers finished one shot behind – Olivia Schmidt of Arkansas State and Kayla Pfitzner of Missouri State.
OCU’s Morgan Palermo finished tied for 11th at 6 over with a score of 74-78-80–222. Palermo, a sophomore from Parker, Colo., moved up 18 spots from her 29th-place finish after the first day. On the day, she sank five birdies, totaling 11 overall. She also ended each round with a birdie. She went 2 under on the day to help the Stars take the team win. Only Kamas and Pfitzner had a better day than Palermo.
Paige Wood, the sophomore from McKinney, Texas, came in tied for 13th. She tallied a score of 76-74-73–223 going 7 over. She finished the day with four birdies and 11 overall. Her score of 1 over on the day was good enough to move up six spots from her 19th place after day one.
Reagan Chaney and Natalie Gough rounded out the Stars tying for 23rd. They both shot 9 over with Gough shooting 77-74-74–225 and Chaney with a 76-73-76–225, respectively. Chaney, the sophomore from Ardmore, ended with eight birdies, and Gough, a senior from Bixby, ended with eight, including three in a row to start round three.
The Stars will get back to action Oct. 10-11 in the Carter County Collegiate at Dornick Hills in Ardmore.