Bradley University Athletics

Women’s Golf Returns To Missouri For MVC Championship

Women's Golf 4/15/2022 12:30:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Golf makes its fourth trip to the state of Missouri during the 2021-22 season with the Braves heading to Kirkwood, Mo., for the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Championship which will be held Sunday through Tuesday at the par-71 Greenbriar Hills Country Club.

Currently third in the MVC in the Golfstat.com rankings, Bradley is coming off a fourth-place finish at the Redbird Spring Invitational this past Saturday to conclude the regular-season schedule.

Action at the MVC Championship gets underway Sunday with tee times starting at 10 a.m. Monday's second round and Tuesday's third round will both feature tee times beginning at 8 a.m.

Bradley returns to Greenbriar Hills Country Club after playing at the course last spring, where the Braves finished fourth of 16 teams at the Diane Daugherty Invitational last March. Two Braves scheduled to compete at the 2022 MVC Championship played at last year's Diane Daugherty Invite in senior Megan Welch and junior Mara Flaherty. The duo are also the only Braves to have experience playing the MVC Championship after both participated in last year's league championship which was held in St. Charles, Mo.

Welch, who is coming off a third-place finish at the Redbird Spring Invitational last week, fired a 75 in the final round of last year's Diane Daugherty Invitational. She tied for 22nd at last year's MVC Championship and enters the Valley Championship second on the team with a 76.23 stroke average this season, which ranks 10th in the MVC in 2021-22. Welch owns the seventh-best career stroke average in Bradley history (77.89) and her 13 rounds of 75 or better this season is tied for the team lead.

Flaherty's last top-20 finish came at last year's Diane Daugherty Invitational, when she tied for 18th overall after a final round 77. One of three individuals to play in all 26 rounds this season for the Braves, she owns a career-best 77.46 stroke average and her 78.15 career stroke average entering the Valley Championship is eighth in school history.

Freshman Maria Perakis is eighth in the MVC with a team-best 76.08 stroke average, which is tops among newcomers in the Valley this year. She has been Bradley's top finisher in six of nine tournaments and her stroke average is third-best among freshman marks in program history.

Senior Sarah Nacos heads into the Valley Championship on a high note after earning her first top-20 finish of the year at the Redbird Spring Invitational. Nacos opened the Redbird Spring Invite with her lowest rounds of the season (75) and finished at 152 to earn a share of 16th. She owns a career-best 78.13 stroke average this season.

Rounding out the Bradley lineup is freshman Kathryn McNease, whose 78.30 stroke average would rank seventh among Bradley freshman records. McNease has played as an individual in her last two outings and owns a 77.33 average over her last three rounds. She tied for 17th last time out at the Redbird Spring Invitational to pick up her second top-20 finish of the year.

Print Friendly Version