Huskers Close Fall in Clash at Boulder Creek

The Nebraska women’s golf team closes its 2025 fall campaign by competing in The Clash at Boulder Creek in Boulder City, Nev. (Oct. 27-28).

The two-day, 54-hole event hosted by Northern Arizona on the 6,429-yard, par-72 layout at Boulder Creek Golf Club with a 9 a.m. (CT) shotgun start for two rounds of continuous play on Monday, Oct. 27. Following Monday’s 36 holes, the tournament concludes with the final round on Tuesday, Oct. 28 with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. (CT).

Nebraska is the lone Big Ten Conference representative in a 17-team field that includes Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Northridge, Drake, Fresno State, Grand Canyon, New Mexico State, North Dakota State, San Francisco, South Dakota State, Southern Utah, Tarleton State, UC Riverside, Utah Tech, Utah Valley, UTEP and the hosts from Northern Arizona. Several individual golfers from UNLV also will compete.

Hannah Kono will play out of the top spot in the Big Red lineup. The junior from Enkoping, Sweden owns a 72.29 stroke average while playing in every round for the Huskers this season.

Redshirt senior Brooke Bream will be back in Nebraska’s lineup after missing the Huskers’ appearance at the Oklahoma Intercollegiate. Bream, a native of Phoenix, Ariz., carries a team-best 72.00 stroke average through five rounds this season.

Bream’s younger sister, Mackenzie, is scheduled to make her first collegiate lineup appearance in Nevada. The redshirt sophomore joins true freshman Kaleigh Babineaux and sophomore Jessica Jolly in completing the Husker lineup in the five-count-four scoring format.

Redshirt junior Symran Shah also will see her first action of the season by competing as an individual outside the Husker lineup.

The Clash at Boulder Creek
Boulder City, Nevada (Host: Northern Arizona)
Boulder Creek Golf Club (Par 72, 6,429 Yards)

Schedule
Monday, Oct. 27 (Rounds 1 & 2) - 9 a.m. (CT) - Shotgun
Tuesday, Oct. 28 (Round 3) - 9 a.m. (CT) - Shotgun

Live Scoring - Scoreboard.clippd.com

Participating Teams (17)
Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Northridge, Drake, Fresno State, Grand Canyon, Nebraska, New Mexico State, North Dakota State, Northern Arizona, San Francisco, South Dakota State, Southern Utah, Tarleton State, UC Riverside, UNLV (Individuals), Utah Tech, Utah Valley, UTEP

Nebraska Lineup (5-count-4)
1. Hannah Kono, Jr., Enkoping, Sweden
2. Brooke Bream, RSr., Phoenix, Arizona
3. Kaleigh Babineaux, Fr., Austin, Texas
4. Mackenzie Bream, RSo., Phoenix, Arizona
5. Jessica Jolly, So., Rockford, Michigan
IND-Symran Shah, RJr., Carrollton, Texas

Hall Takes Reins of Husker Program as Nebraska’s Sixth Head Coach
With a proven record of helping aspiring young golfers drastically improve their games, first-year Nebraska Head Coach Breanne Hall inherits a roster filled with nine returning Huskers and one transfer who followed her from Illinois State. However, among the 12 golfers on Nebraska’s roster, nine will be in either their first or second seasons as Huskers.

A three-time Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, Hall was named the sixth head coach of the Nebraska women’s golf program on May 15, 2025 after Coach Jeanne Sutherland announced her retirement. Hall won back-to-back MVC Coach-of-the-Year honors at Illinois State in 2024 and 2025. She led the Redbirds to three NCAA Tournament appearances over the past four seasons and was also the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year.

Hall’s 2025 Illinois State team won the Missouri Valley Conference title by 31 strokes before finishing 11th at the NCAA Columbus Regional. In 2024, Illinois State won the Missouri Valley Conference title by 12 strokes with Ali Schrock sharing the tournament title. The Redbirds went on to finish 12th at the NCAA East Lansing Regional.

The Redbirds earned their first conference title under Hall’s direction in 2022 and their first MVC title in a decade, edging Missouri State by one stroke and capping the year with a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Stillwater Regional.

During her time at Illinois State, Hall coached three MVC Golfers of the Year and 15 all-conference selections. Her teams produced the five best single-season scoring averages in school history over the past five years. Prior to taking over the top spot at Illinois State, Hall spent a season recruiting a roster before serving as the head coach for two seasons at UNC Asheville (2016-18). As the first head coach in history of the fledgling program, Hall led UNC Asheville to a pair of tournament titles in the first two seasons of the program’s existence. Her team posted a nine-stroke improvement in scoring average from year one to year two.

Kono, Jolly Lead Strong Husker Effort at Ptarmigan Ram
Hannah Kono fired a 142 (-2) over 36 holes to earn a tie for eighth individually and help the Nebraska women’s golf team to a fifth-place finish at the rain-shortened Colonel Wollenberg Ptarmigan Ram Invitational in Fort Collins, Colo. (Sept. 22-23).

Kono, a junior from Enkoping, Sweden, opened with an impressive 68 (-4) in the first round, before the second round was suspended prior to completion. The teams faced cold, rainy and windy conditions on day two but managed to complete the second round before the decision was made to cancel the final round.

Husker sophomore Jessica Jolly tied for 12th by carding back-to-back rounds of even-par 72. Freshman Kaleigh Babineaux added a third top-25 finish to the Nebraska lineup with a 147 (+3) to tie for 24th. She matched teammate Lauren Thiele, who added a 147 of her own while playing as an individual outside Nebraska’s lineup.

Graduate student Brooke Bream continued her solid play by tying for 31st in the 77-player field at 148 (73-75), while Danica Lundgren rounded out the Big Red contingent in a tie for 48th at 149. Lundgren’s opening-round 71 (-1) was NU’s second-best individual score of the tournament.

As a team, the Huskers finished at 577 (+1), including an opening-round 284 (-4), before battling the conditions for a 293 (+5) in the second round. Colorado captured the team title at 563 (-13), while Cal State Fullerton finished second at 570 (-6) in the 13-team field.

Husker All-American Kate Smith Competing on 2025 LPGA Tour

Former Husker Kate Smith-Stroh captured her LPGA Tour Card for the 2025 season by tying for 19th at the LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying Stage in Mobile, Ala., Dec. 10.

Smith-Stroh, an All-American and Big Ten Champion for Nebraska as a fifth-year senior in 2021, put together five solid rounds in Alabama to finish with a total of 350 (-8) with rounds of 69-71-67-72-71 on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail - Magnolia Grove to secure a spot on the world’s premier women’s golf tour this season.

One of the best golfers in Nebraska history, Smith-Stroh competed on the Epson Tour (2022-24). During the 2023 season, she competed in 22 events and made 19 cuts, while recording four top-10 finishes. She tied for second at the Four Winds Invitational. She added 19 events while making 13 cuts in 2024, including two more top-10 finishes.

She was ranked 33rd in the Race for the Card entering Q-Series Final Qualifying.

Smith-Stroh has earned more than $100,000 in her first season on the LPGA Tour, including her first career top-10 finish at the Dow Championship in late June. Her tie for 10th at 265 (-15) over four rounds earned her just over $35,000. She added a tie for 18th at 276 (-12) at The Standard Portland Classic in mid-August to take home more than $25,000. She opened October with a tie for 42nd at the Lotte Championship at Hoakalei Country Club (Oct. 1-4).

The native of Detroit Lakes, Minn., made history during her time at Nebraska. The two-time first-team All-Big Ten award winner stormed to the Big Ten Championship with a school-record 64 (-8) in the final round at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio. She was named a third-team All-American by Golfweek and an honorable-mention All-American by the WGCA before becoming the first Husker to compete in the Arnold Palmer Cup, helping the United States to a title. She was also the first Husker to compete in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2021.