Texas State Women's Golf competes at Jim West Challenge

After going on the road to compete at both The “Mo’ Morial and Schooner Classic golf tournaments, the Texas State Womens’ golf team was home last weekend as it competed at the Jim West Challenge in San Marcos at Kissing Tree Golf Club.

For head coach Par Nilsson, this year’s tournament was filled with some of the best golf teams in the tournament.

“As always, a strong field is coming in,” Nilsson said. “We have teams coming from all over the country…we are super excited to compete on a national level. We are thankful of both Jim and Carol West and their foundation for what they are doing for womens’ golf just in general for putting on this tournament. It’s one of the best tournaments in the country all year.”

Through two rounds on Sunday and Monday, Texas State placed 12th out of the 15 teams competing at the Jim West Challenge which included Oklahoma, TCU, SMU, Tulsa, Ohio State, Missouri and eventual winner Oklahoma State.

For Nilsson, not only did the Bobcats do well, but also added the fact that hosting a tournament such as this bodes well for the women’s golf program to potentially compete at a higher level.

“I think we played well the last two rounds,” Nilsson said. “Getting the chance to host a tournament with support from the West family is an amazing opportunity not just for Texas State but also women’s collegiate golf. It opens a lot of doors to other tournaments to compete at this level.”

Two Texas State golfers were able to place in the top 25 at the Challenge as Marine Griffaut and Mattingly Palmer shot a 217 over the two days to put them in a five-way tie for 21st place.

Griffaut was able to rebound from a tough first day after shooting 78 in the first round to shooting a 69 in the final round moving her up 16 spots.

A junior at Texas State who made the journey across the Atlantic Ocean from her home in Paris, France, Griffaut has competed all across both Europe and the United States including competing at the Women’s Amateur Championship as well as qualifying for the French National Golf Team.

When comparing the courses from all over the world to the one here in Kissing Tree, the differences are quite more noticeable.

“It’s way more wild,” Griffaut said laughingly, “Some of the courses back home are short and narrow with small greens whereas (Kissing Tree) the greens are a lot faster.”

While identifying her strengths and weaknesses, Griffaut looks to continue her progress towards becoming a professional golfer.

“I’m a really good driver,” Griffaut said. “I hit a lot of the fairways which are far so it’s good for me because I’m getting close to the greens. That is my big strength at the moment so I’m working on my putting. So far it’s going very well and I’m improving … right now I’m just trusting the process and right now the process is making results.”

Though the Texas State Womens’ Golf team is composed of just five juniors, the Bobcats are making strides of improvement according to Griffaut.

“We are a young team but we are getting older,” Griffaut said. “Some of my closest friends are on the team who are all juniors. We are improving and now we are making more birdies while committing less mistakes. I believe in my team and we have a lot of potential.”

Texas State returns to play Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 to compete at the Hurricane Invitational in Miami, Fla. at the Biltmore Golf Course.