Three years ago, people told Stew Burke that turning around Kansas State’s women’s golf program was “a hard job” and that “it couldn’t be done.” Last season, the Wildcats authored one of the biggest comebacks in Division I women’s golf, reaching the National Championship for the first time in program history. This year? Few gave K-State a chance, claiming the team having lost much of its star power was simply too young to compete.
Then came Wednesday afternoon. Standing in front of a projection TV at Colbert Hills Golf Course, with the youngest roster of his career one senior, two juniors, two sophomores, and three freshmen watching from a long table nearby, Burke saw the Wildcats earn a return trip to the 2026 NCAA Regionals, proving the preseason doubters wrong.
“You know, it’s the K-State way, right?” Burke said. “People write us off. I’m pretty proud of our girls.”
K-State enters as the No. 7 seed in the 54-hole Louisville Regional, set for May 11–13 at the University of Louisville Golf Club in Simpsonville, Kentucky. The field includes No. 1 Arkansas, No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 Iowa State (Big 12 Champion), No. 4 Mississippi, No. 5 Houston, No. 6 Virginia Tech, No. 8 Indiana, No. 9 College of Charleston (CAA Champion), No. 10 Xavier (Big East Champion), No. 11 Western Kentucky (Conference USA Champion), and No. 12 Murray State (Missouri Valley Champion).
The 2026 NCAA Division I women’s golf regionals feature 72 teams across six sites, each with 12 teams and six individuals. The lineup includes 29 conference champions and 43 at-large selections.
At each regional, the top five teams and the lowest-scoring individual not on an advancing team will move on to the NCAA Championship in Carlsbad, California, held May 22–27.
“Regionals is not going to be my last tournament,” said Noa van Beek, K-State’s lone senior. “We’re going to make it to nationals. That’s the main goal. It’s not going to be my last tournament. I told the team, so they know. We need to just keep going. We’re not done at all.”
Leave a Reply