Women's Golf 5/16/2025 1:38:00 PM

No. 7 Blinn rallies in final three rounds for fifth-place at NJCAA Division I national tournament

The Buccaneers posted their best team finish in program history

Women's Golf 5/16/2025 1:38:00 PM

No. 7 Blinn rallies in final three rounds for fifth-place at NJCAA Division I national tournament

The Buccaneers posted their best team finish in program history

Blinn College women's golf assistant coach and women's team manager Gary Belt could only sum up the Buccaneers' national tournament run in one way.

"Golf … good grief," he said.

Seventh-ranked Blinn bounced back from a tough opening day of play on Monday at Buffalo Dunes Golf Course in Garden City, Kan., by staging the tournament's biggest standings climb to earn a fifth-place finish in the NJCAA Division I Women's Golf Championship on Thursday.

The fifth-place performance was Blinn's best at nationals since the program's launch in 2019. The Bucs were in the national meet for the third time as a team.

Sophomore Pai Tassaneetipagorn and freshmen Abiha Syed, Abigail O'Brien, Lillie Webster, Daniah Syed, and Alison Madeley competed for Blinn.

The Bucs opened play with a 41-over par performance and sat in a 12th-place tie by the end of their first 18 holes. Though Blinn was harassed by harsh winds and a tough course in round one, Belt said he believed his team could rebound under more favorable conditions as it saw a clear path to a top-five finish.

"Even after the tough first round, we knew the weather was going to improve and we knew that we were capable of playing far better than we had," Belt explained. "I think the excitement and nerves that come with playing on the national stage got to us a bit, but once we got comfortable, we started playing more to our level. We felt we still had a chance at cracking the top five, which was really our aim from the beginning."

Even in 12th place, Blinn was just a handful of strokes outside of several teams ahead of it in the standings. The Bucs took advantage of that close gap by shooting just 9-over in round two, the fourth-lowest score of the round. That pushed the team to seventh on the leaderboard.

"We just got back to playing our own game," said Abiha Syed. "I think we let a lot of negativity get in our heads in round one, and the pressure was on from the beginning; but I think we started to trust the process and trusted that we could get the result that we worked so hard for if we just went back to what worked for us. We gave our all over the course of the next three rounds and it paid off."

Blinn was 21-over in round three and shot 24-over in the finale before heading home for Brenham, Texas, in sixth place. It was during the Bucs' travels that their goal became a reality.

Blinn departed Garden City in sixth place but kept a watchful eye on the team leaderboard as Tyler Junior College – the Bucs Region XIV rival – finished out its tournament run. The Apaches took a steep tumble out of fifth place, and Palm Beach State College, Palm Beach Community College, and Eastern Florida State College failed to push past Blinn as those teams finished sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively.

"You really had to see it to believe what was happening," Belt said. "We're in the bus and suddenly our girls erupted in cheers as they realized we took fifth. That was a special moment for a special group that has worked their tails off all year long. The bus glowed as we traveled down the road."

Collectively, Blinn was 95-over par across 72 holes. Second-ranked Odessa College shot 30-over for the tournament crown.

Individually, Abiha Syden placed 31st at 24-over, Tassaneetipagorn and Daniah Syed were 25-over for a 32nd-place tie, and O'Brien was 36th at 26-over.

"We didn't really talk much about expectations because sometimes that can be a dangerous place to go," Belt said. "We playfully talked about wanting to beat certain teams in the standings, but at the end of the day, our real goal was to go out and play golf the way we know how and see what happens from there. I think we did that, and I look at this performance with such pride because of how much work the women put in and how well they gelled together and played for each other down the stretch. That was the most satisfying development throughout the entire season."

Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 53 national championships since 1987.

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