As Jackie Ralston’s team was pulling away from the field in the final round of the Golfweek October Classic, the veteran coach at Mary Hardin-Baylor fought the urge to add a little something.
“I really kind of kept my mouth shut,” Ralston said when asked what her message to the team was amidst a 30-shot victory. “Sometimes as a coach you have that desire to want to put a little more info into it or encourage them in a certain way but I really felt like my group didn’t really need that from me at the moment but just to let them be them.”
Mary Hardin-Baylor prevailed for the first time in the 15-year history of the Golfweek October Classic. They finished 54 holes at the Links Golf Club at Sandestin in Destin, Florida, with a 25-over total, which was 30 shots better than Macalester College. That was also a 54-hole program scoring record for the Crusaders.
On the individual leaderboard, four Mary Hardin-Baylor players placed in the top 4, with Katie Rhude finishing solo second, Camryn Kiser solo third and Julia Sosa and Claire Smith tied for fourth.
Huntingdon College’s Yvette Gorden claimed the individual title at even par, which gave her a five-shot edge on Rhude.
Ralston attributes her team’s exceptional scoring in part to the work her players have put in so far this fall. Mary Hardin-Baylor came to Florida after playing the Tempest Golf Club in Longview, Texas, and competed at Nemacolin Resort in Farmington, Pennsylvania, before that. They took valuable lessons from each. Ralston thinks those starts helped her players learn what they’re capable of – especially when putts start dropping.
“I was pleased when I was watching the scoreboard and seeing all that red go up,” Ralston said of the Golfweek event. “Just stay out of the way and let them do what they do and be available should somebody hit a wall or need some advice here or there.”
Mary Hardin-Baylor led the field in par-4 and par-5 scoring as well as birdies.
Victory at the Golfweek October Classic marked the Crusaders’ third team title in their five fall starts. Now that the first half of the season is over, Ralston said they’ll celebrate by getting the whole team together at their on-campus golf facility, theJane and Mac Hickerson Crusader Golf Club.
The facility, which was dedicated a year ago, not only offers a place for the Crusader men’s and women’s teams to bond, but has been a gamechanger for practice. It includes a four-hole practice course with 23 tee boxes, a lighted short game area with two bunkers, a clubhouse and a hitting bay area with two Trackman units and a SAM PuttLab. Ben Crenshaw and Earl Santee, a well-known sports venue architect, designed the facility, named after Mac Hickerson, the first golf coach at Mary Hardin-Baylor.
“It’s like a kid in a candy store,” Ralston said of the place, which is solely for the use of the Mary Hardin-Baylor golf teams.
Ralston said the facilities have made a night-and-day difference for her team – and that was apparent at the Golfweek October Classic after a runaway victory.
“If they’re in between class, they can come out here and work on their game any time they want,” she said. “I think it also is starting to attract the type of player who enjoys working on their game. . . . I just know we’re blessed to have what we have. I think it definitely has impacted the present and our future.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Mary Hardin-Baylor authors runaway victory at Golfweek October Classic