Quick 9: Atypical Trophies X
Spring 2025
One of the best things about college golf is the sheer number of tournaments hosted around the country each season. Each one has its own unique style and array of atypical trophies and awards. Some will make excellent additions to trophy cases while others will adorn practice facility walls. All of them tell a story.
Won’t you join me for a picturesque quick 9?
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1. BETSY RAWLS LONGHORN INVITATIONAL [Mar 17-18, 2025]
Betsey Rawls is a legend in women’s golf and rightly celebrated by her alma mater. After learning the game from Texas Coach Harvey Penick, Rawls went on to become one of the all time greats in LPGA Tour history. In 1977, the same year Rawls was inducted in the World Golf Hall of Fame, Texas women’s golf Coach Pat Weis renamed the 4 year old “Texas Invitational” to be the “Besty Rawls Longhorn Invitational”. The tournament ran for 47 straight years from 1974-2020 and has a winner’s list that rivals just about any other in college golf including Nancy Lopez, Beth Daniel, Therese Hession, Val Skinner, Jodey Rosenthal, Michiko Hattori, Kate Golden, Annika Sorenstam, Marisa Baena, Amanda Blumenherst, Maria Hernandez, and many others.
After a four year hiatus, the Betsy Rawls Invitational is back for the 48th playing of this historic tournament. Texas captured the team and individual trophies at their home tournament in very difficult conditions for their third team title of the season. The Longhorns were led by sophomore Lauren Kim who was the only player to shoot under par in the final round, earning her second collegiate medalist honors.
2. COACH MO CLASSIC [Mar 31 - Apr 1, 2025]
This season Furman and UNF co-hosted the inaugural tournament named after St. John’s G&CC (St Augustine, FL) teaching pro Mo Geasualdi. Known simply as “Coach Mo”, the Furman alum has an amazing story following her life-saving liver transplant and subsequent battle back from a near-fatal fungal infection.
This first playing was held at Coach Mo’s home course which saw some exceptional golf. Purdue jumped out to an early lead, shooting the only team round under par of the tournament in the first round and never looking back. Three Boilermakers finished in the top 10, led by Natasha Kiel - the #50 ranked player in the country - who was one of only three players to break par. This win was the second for Purdue as a team this season and was Kiel’s third individual medalist honors, making her the fourth player in program history to achieve that feat.
3. THE “MO” MORIAL [Apr 7-8, 2025]
The “Mo” Morial is named after Texas A&M great Monica Welsh who suffered a fatal auto accident in 1992, just a decade after leaving College Station as a four-year letter winner in golf (1978-82). The host Aggies celebrated the 21st playing with a historic 38-stroke victory, beating their own 25-shot victory record set back in 1996. The individual title went to Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio whose two closing under-par rounds (the only player in the field to accomplish that feat) were good enough to beat out teammate Vanessa Borovilos by three strokes.
A cool added detail for this year’s event is that Monica’s niece, Jamie Welsh of Oklahoma City University, was able to compete as an individual.
"Mo is a legacy in so many different ways," Welsh said. "Of course, the golf is one thing, but the way people flocked to her as a person is what this tournament stands for. Seeing the light that the Texas A&M girls bring to the game has been a joy to experience this week."
4. NORTHERN KENTUCKY JEWELL INVITATIONAL [Apr 7-8, 2025]
This tournament began in 2015 and is held annually in memory of the late NKU golf team member - Andrew Jewell - who died in his sleep in 2008 at the age of 23. The 2025 edition saw Wright State take the team (Jewell) trophy over host NKU by just a single stroke in the 36-hole event. The individual (Jewell) trophy was also decided by a single stroke, won by Mason Witt who was playing as an individual for Xavier.
5. LIZ MURPHEY COLLEGIATE [Apr 8-9, 2025]
Coach Liz Murphey not only helped build the Georgia women’s golf program from scratch in the 1970s, she also built up the Bulldog women’s sports programs as a whole in her senior administrator role in the 1980s-90s. Coach Murphey’s teams saw a tremendous amount of success in both the AIAW and NCAA eras, and even hosted the 1981 AIAW championship as well as the 1983 and 1984 NCAA championships. Among her many honors was being named a charter member in the (now GCA) Coach’s Hall of Fame.
One of Coach Murphey’s early decisions was to establish a tournament called the “Georgia Invitational” in 1973. In the 52 years since it has gone through a couple of name changes before settling on honoring the coach who started it all. The 52nd consecutive playing in 2025 makes it one of the oldest and longest-running collegiate tournaments in college golf, and perhaps shares the top honor specifically in the women’s regular season with another tournament listed below.
The host Bulldogs had a great first two rounds, but scores ballooned in the final round and Georgia Southern was able to grab the team title by a comfortable 14 shots. Three Eagles finished inside the top 5, however they were all chasing Oklahoma’s Audrey Rischer who was the only player in the field to finish at even par, earning her first career victory by a single stroke.
6. SCHENKEL INVITATIONAL [Mar 21-23, 2025]
When it comes to broadcasting, it’s hard to have a more distinguished career than Chris Schenkel:
After [World War II], Schenkel embarked on a Hall of Fame broadcasting career, one of the most distinguished in the history of the industry. He was the first to cover The Masters on television, the first to anchor a live telecast of the Olympics and the first to call a nationally broadcast college football game. He was inducted into 16 halls of fame and received an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement.
That quote comes from the website dedicated to the college golf tournament named in his honor and played this year for the 45th time. The Utah Utes, in their first trip to this historic tournament, were able to hold off a charging Florida team that counted 5 birdies in the final three holes. One of those Gators was sophomore Luke Poulter who earned his first collegiate victory by 1 stroke over teammate Ian Gilligan.
7. CAMP LEJEUNE INTERCOLLEGIATE [Apr 4-6, 2025]
The Camp Lejeune Intercollegiate is one of the most unique tournaments in all of college golf which likely contributes to its longevity. The 2025 edition marks the 52nd time that the active Marine Base has hosted a men’s tournament and the 3rd time it has also hosted a women’s tournament. Played across the two courses at Paradise Point GC, the venue isn’t the only interesting part of this historic event. Each year, college players are paired with active or retired service members on the first day for an 18-hole non-college amateur tournament, making for added stakes while the collegians play their practice round.
On the men’s side, Sandhills CC and Shenandoah University both finished 54-holes at 873/+9, but it was Sandhills won the team playoff to claim the trophy. Penn State-Altoona’s Peter Nusbaum played a phenomenal final round 70/-2 to capture the individual title by two strokes over Drew University’s Elliot Parker.
The women’s team title won by Babson College, ranked 12th in the nation and showing serious postseason potential when they took over first place in the second. They were led by Menglu Alice Zhu who finished runner-up to Bridgewater College’s Sophia Martone. The senior tied her own program record with a final round 68 to pull away for a four stroke victory.
8. PING/ARIZONA STATE INVITATIONAL [Mar 28-30, 2025]
There are few teams who can boast anywhere close to the same level of prestige and historical significance as the Arizona State Sun Devil women’s golf program. Therefore, it’s fitting that they have one of the longest-running collegiate tournaments that also happens to have some seriously impressive hardware. This year marked the 52nd playing of the Ping/ASU Invitational, the first 45 of which (1973-2018) were hosted at Karsten GC, while the last half-dozen have been at Papago GCS. Depending on how you want to count records, however, this tournament technically stretches back even further to 1966, but that is something we’ll have to explore another time when we do a deep-dive on this historic event.
The 2025 ASU team led wire-to-wire, opening with a first round -15/273 and never looking back. This gave the Sun Devils their 28th team victory in this long-running event, adding their name to a cup trophy which has had to add a second pedestal just to hold all of the engravings. This team did something no other team on that trophy had done, however, reaching -36/828 which set multiple tournament scoring records as four ASU players finished in the top 10.
Northwestern’s Dianna Lee picked an incredible tournament to notch her first career collegiate win. Her final round 68/-4 vaulted her above a pair of Sun Devils for the single stroke victory and her own engraved place on another historic trophy.
9. THUNDERBIRD COLLEGIATE [Apr 11-12, 2025]
It just so happens that Papago also hosts a long-running ASU men’s event, the Thunderbird Collegiate. The men’s event also stretch back to 1973 and was held at Karsten GC until 2018. Though each of the men’s and women’s events are historic in their own right, the combination of the two reaches a level that leaves us grasping for an even more elevated term. Again, we plan to do a deep-dive on this event in its own post.
Last year, Preston Summerhays joined Phil Mickelson in winning his second Thunderbird individual title. In 2025, Summerhays looked to join Jon Rahm as the only players to capture three of these exceptionally unique trophies. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be as he came up one stroke short of teammate Fifa Laopakdee and New Mexico’s Carson Herron who finished 54 holes tied at -12/201. It took one extra playoff hole for Laopakdee to claim victory, which had to have been extra sweet after losing a playoff in Cabo a month prior. As a team, the Sun Devils got the win at home for the third year in a row despite missing their head coach and one of their top starters (Josele Ballester) who were double-booked for a week trip to Augusta National.
I’m not sure college golf hardware gets any cooler than this!
We will definitely be doing more posts on college golf trophies! Let me know what suggestions you have on trophies to highlight.
I’m glad you are already planning on doing another article on the Thunderbird Collegiate. I’d love to learn more about the historical event and those trophies 😄