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The Missouri State women’s golf team begins its 2024-25 campaign in familiar territory, hosting its annual MSU/Payne Stewart Memorial, Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 9-10), at Twin Oaks Country Club in Springfield. The Bears welcome 11 other teams to the 54-hole tournament, which begins with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start Monday for 36 holes and concludes with the final 18 Tuesday, again an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start.
Head coach Kevin Kane begins his 23rd season guiding the Bears with one of his youngest teams in recent years. MSU’s 10-person roster includes one senior, two juniors and seven sophomores and freshmen, but Kane said his team’s relative lack of experience isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“I’ve been impressed with this team’s hunger and work ethic right off the bat,” he said. “It’s almost a new era for our program, having graduated nine seniors over the last two years, so this is definitely a new-look Bears team. I’m excited to see how we do when the lights go on, but I love what I’ve seen so far.”
MSU is coming off a disappointing fifth-place finish at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship last spring after winning the title the previous year. Now, with its final season in the Valley looming on the horizon before MSU makes the move to Conference USA in 2025-26, the Bears will be chasing their sixth, and last, MVC title in the spring.
The Bears return three players from last year’s Valley squad — senior Helena Bel, junior Kiser Pannier and sophomore Tierney Baumstark. All three will be in the team’s lineup for the opener along with sophomores Coyee Zhang and Kyleigh Pfitzner. Three freshmen will be making their collegiate debuts and playing as individuals — Marlee Edgeman, Tori Gardner and Siena Minor.
Oral Roberts and North Dakota State headline the rest of the Stewart field, which also includes Creighton, Drury, Lindenwood, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Southern Indiana, Texas A&M Commerce, Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Western Illinois. Twin Oaks, which will celebrate its 70th anniversary next year, has hosted every major amateur championship in Missouri and will play to a par of 71 and at 6070 yards for the tournament.
