Huskers Return to California for Big Ten Championship

The Nebraska women’s golf team returns to California for the third time in its last four tournaments when the Huskers travel to the Big Ten Championship in Glendale (April 24-26).

The three-day, 54-hole event begins Friday, April 24, with tee times off No. 1 and No. 10 at 10:30 a.m. (CT), as the players take on a par 70, 6,086-yard layout at the Oakmont Country Club. Saturday’s second round will be on the same schedule with a 6,134-yard course in front of the players, while Sunday’s final round will tee off at 10 a.m. (CT) with a 6,107-yard layout. BTN will provide final-round television coverage beginning on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. (CT).

The Big Ten has been loaded from top to bottom throughout the 2025-26 season with all 18 programs entering the tournament ranked among the nation’s top 100 teams. No. 2 Southern California enters the tournament as the favorite, while No. 6 Oregon and No. 14 UCLA give the Big Ten three teams among the nation’s top 15. No. 30 Northwestern, No. 32 Ohio State, No. 40 Michigan State, No. 45 Purdue, No. 46 Indiana and No. 49 Illinois give the conference nine teams in the top 50, while No. 56 Michigan, No. 67 Maryland, No. 73 Minnesota, No. 75 Penn State, No. 77 Nebraska, No. 80 Rutgers, No. 84 Iowa, No. 88 Washington and No. 89 Wisconsin provide a formidable list of foes fighting for NCAA Regional berths.

Last season, Oregon won the Big Ten with a 14-stroke win over Michigan State at Bulle Rock Golf Club in Havre de Grace, Md. The Ducks went on to advance to the NCAA semifinals. Northwestern, which went on to knock off Stanford for the NCAA title, finished fifth at the Big Ten Championship behind Illinois and Ohio State. Southern California, which settled for ninth at the conference tournament, was the third Big Ten team to advance to match play in the 2025 NCAA quarterfinals.

Nebraska, which will be playing in its fifth consecutive tournament in the West (California or Arizona), hopes to show significant improvement at the conference championship after finishing 18th a year ago.

First-year Husker Head Coach Breanne Hall has helped the Big Red to impressive gains in 2025-26, including a 61-spot jump in the national rankings after finishing at No. 136 a year ago. Hall, who guided Illinois State to Missouri Valley Conference titles in three of the past four seasons (2022, 2024, 2025), led Nebraska to its first team title since 2023 when the Huskers won the MSU SoCal Spring Invitational in Camarillo, Calif. (March 8-10).

Redshirt junior Hannah Kono (Enkoping, Sweden) has been a leader for the Huskers throughout the season with a team-best 72.64 stroke average over 28 rounds. Freshman Kaleigh Babineaux  (Austin, Texas) has been a major contributor with a 72.92 stroke average over 26 rounds, while recording a team-best seven top-25 finishes on the year.

Fellow freshman Ailis Tribolet (Chandler, Ariz.) also has made an instant impact with five consecutive top-25 finishes this spring before having that streak snapped at the Chevron Silverado Showdown in Napa (April 6-8). Tribolet carries a 73.83 stroke average over 23 rounds.

Big Ten Championship
Glendale, California
Oakmont Country Club (Par 70, 6,086/6,134/6,107 Yards)

Schedule
Friday, April 24 (Round 1) - 10:30 a.m. (CT) - Tee Times
Saturday, April 25 (Round 2) - 10:30 a.m. (CT) - Tee Times
Sunday, April 26 (Round 3) - 10 a.m. (CT) - Tee Times

Live Scoring: Scoreboard.clippd.com

Participating Teams (18) 
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, Southern California, UCLA, Washington, Wisconsin

Nebraska Lineup (5-count-4)
1. Hannah Kono, Jr., Enkoping, Sweden
2. Ailis Tribolet, Fr., Chandler, Arizona
3. Kaleigh Babineaux, Fr., Austin, Texas
4. Symran Shah, RJr., Carrollton, Texas
5. Brooke Bream, RSr., Phoenix, Arizona
SUB - Lauren Thiele, RJr., Wahoo, Nebraska

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 are 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.

Huskers Claim First Team Title Since 2023 at SoCal Spring Invitational
Lauren Thiele and Hannah Kono earned top-five finishes to lead six Huskers among the top-16 and power Nebraska to the MSU SoCal Spring Invitational championship in Camarillo (March 8-10). It was NU’s first victory since winning the Westbrook Spring Invitational (Feb. 26-27, 2023).

Thiele produced a career-best even-par 213 to capture runner-up honors on the 5,900-yard layout at Sterling Hills, including a career-best 67 (-4) in the second round.

Kono put together a 68 (-3) in the final round to close at 216 (+3) in a tie for fourth. The Huskers 862 (+10) ran away with the team title by 13 strokes ahead of runner-up Notre Dame (875), while CSU Northridge took third at 880 (+28).

Olivia Lovegrove (T7th, 218), Symran Shah (T10, 219), Ailis Tribolet (T13th, 220) and Kaleigh Babineaux (T16th, 221) all produced top-20 finishes for the Big Red.

Husker All-American Kate Smith Competed 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, 2024.

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 at 350 (-8) with rounds of 69-71-67-72-71 on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail - Magnolia Grove to secure a 2025 LPGA Tour Card.

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.

Smith-Stroh earned nearly $116,000 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 $25,000. Overall, she made eight cuts in 17 events.

The native of Detroit Lakes, Minn., was a two-time first-team All-Big Ten picked who stormed to the 2021 Big Ten title with a school-record 64 (-8) in the final round at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio. She was 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.

Kono Making Step Forward in Second Season as Husker
Hannah Kono produced Nebraska’s No. 2 stroke average (74.93) in her first year as a Husker in 2024-25. The transfer from Oakland University earned four top-25 finishes as a first-year Nebraska golfer, after finishing sixth at the 2024 Horizon League Championship.

Through 10 tournaments in her second season at Nebraska, Kono owns a team-best 72.64 stroke average including three top-10 finishes (Ptarmigan Ram, Texas Golf Throwdown, SoCal).

Kono fired a career-best 210 (-6) to tie for 16th at the 2026 Westbrook Spring Invitational. Last season, Kono tied for 21st with a then-career-best 213 (-3) at Westbrook.

She closed with a career-best 68 (-4) this season in Arizona to help the Huskers end with the best team round in school history with a 272 (-16).

Kono capped the fall of 2024 with a then-career-best 218 (+2) to finish 16th at the Hurricane Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla. The native of Enkoping, Sweden, put together consistent rounds of 73, 72 and 73 on the par-72, 6,175-yard layout at the Biltmore Golf Club.

She opened her Husker career with a tie for 18th at the Badger Invitational with a 224.

Thiele Named 2025 Nebraska Women’s Amateur of the Year
Lauren Thiele was named the Nebraska Women’s Amateur Golfer of the Year presented by SWAG (Nov. 13, 2025).

Thiele claimed the honor on the strength of a victory at the 102nd Nebraska Women’s Match Play at Hillcrest Country Club in Lincoln (July 31). She defeated Husker teammate Brooke Bream 1 up in the final to capture the title.

Thiele, a Wahoo native, follows in the family footsteps of her older sisters, Hannah (2016) and Lindsey (2023), as a Nebraska Women’s Match Play champion. Lauren was also the Nebraska Girls Match Play Champion in 2021. Hannah was also the Nebraska Women’s Amateur Golfer of the Year in 2016.

Lauren added an eighth-place finish at the Nebraska Women’s Amateur in Beatrice in June.