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USA Today
12-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
NGI: Another postseason title for Angelica Holman; Santa Clara breaks through in team race
NGI: Another postseason title for Angelica Holman; Santa Clara breaks through in team race Despite growing up in Fort Pierce, Florida, Angelica Holman came to the desert this week and something about Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona, just seemed right to her. 'It wasn't easy – I wouldn't say it was ever easy – it just suited my eye,' said Holman, the Eastern Michigan junior who led wire-to-wire on her way to the individual title at the National Golf Invitational. For Holman, this week marked a major breakthrough. She hasn't really felt she had a good handle on her game since last spring. But here's the crazy thing: Last spring, Holman also ended her season with a national title. Holman spent her freshman and sophomore seasons at Daytona State College, an NJCAA Division I school in Daytona Beach, Florida. Not only did Holman win the individual title at the NJCAA Women's National Championship in May 2024, but Daytona State finished as the top team. Holman went on to the University of Georgia from there but only spent the fall semester in Athens. She was on the roster but did not compete and transferred to play for Eastern Michigan coach Josh Brewer, who had recruited her to Georgia, at the midway point of the season. 'In the fall semester I think I just lost my swing and then it just took me so long to get it back,' she said. 'I think really relaxing and focusing on other parts of the game and more mental really helped me.' Holman teed it up seven times with the team this spring but with only one top-10 finish. She decided to enter the transfer portal, which she said was not only a personal decision but a very hard one considering that she loved her Eastern Michigan team and coaches. 'I'm just open to going anywhere now,' Holman said, 'hopefully closer to home.' National Golf Invitational: Final scores, standings Holman's rounds of 69-74-73 at Southern Dunes left her at even par for the week and one shot ahead of Mercer's Katie Scheck. Holman said she felt the most nervous in Sunday's final round, but eventually that went away. She was able to overcome back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 5 and 6 and played the rest of the day in 1-under par. 'It's amazing,' she said of winning the NGI title. 'It's just been so long since my game has been put together so it's really incredible for me.' Brewer said Holman largely found her way over the hump by herself. She's a beloved teammate and, as one of only two girls on Brewer's team who had a car on campus, was always generous to her teammates when it came to providing rides to and from practice. 'I'm happy for her because she's kind of stuck with it, kept believing and found a way to play her best golf at the end of the year,' Brewer said. Holman was perhaps an unexpected leader for an Eastern Michigan team that was without its star player Savannah de Bock after the sophomore from Belgium qualified for an NCAA Regional as an individual – becoming the first player in program history to play an NCAA postseason event in the process. That, however, meant de Bock was ineligible to play the NGI. Eastern Michigan started the final round in second place but 10 shots behind leader Santa Clara. By the end of the day, Brewer's squad had come within four shots of the team title. 'You want to win, but we gave ourselves at least a chance,' Brewer said, praising the resilience his team showed on Sunday as they posted a 4-over team score, the second-best team round of the day. Santa Clara has played the NGI all three years and finished in the top 5 in each of its past two trips to Southern Dunes. 'It was good to see that we could do it under pressure and that they stuck to their gameplan,' coach Krystal Kelly said of her team's win. 'I'm just so incredibly proud of them and everything they've accomplished this week.' At the beginning of the week, Kelly liked the plan her young team was following, and that plan didn't waiver even as Eastern Michigan attacked the course in a more aggressive way. At No. 16, a reachable par 5, for example, Eastern Michigan players went for the green in two. Kelly continued to coach her players to lay up there. The 17th hole is a short, challenging par 3 that Santa Clara played in 1 under. The closing hole is a par 4 with water where Kelly knows anything can happen, so she really didn't take a breath until freshman Proud Sriwongngam, playing in the No. 2 spot on Sunday, finished that hole. Kelly's consistent message to her team throughout the day was to stay patient. 'Ultimately I tell them, 'Be where your feet are,'' said Kelly, who played on the UCLA team that won the NCAA Women's Championship in 2004. This Santa Clara team has no seniors, and Kelly loved that no player ever gave up or took the cop-out of, 'hey, my score is not going to count.' For all five, the NGI title also marks the first time they have experienced a team victory. 'Just to see the reaction on their face when they knew we had won,' Kelly said, 'There's tears streaming down their face, it makes it all very worthwhile.' And for Kelly, there was another layer. Sunday was not only Mother's Day but her 43rd birthday. Her parents were in Arizona to cheer for their daughter's team and son Colt, 11, was at home, very much engaged with what was happening. 'He texted me yesterday, 'Go get 'em, Mom. I'm so proud of you.''
USA Today
10-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
In 3rd National Golf Invitational appearance, Santa Clara stays the course hoping for best finish
In 3rd National Golf Invitational appearance, Santa Clara stays the course hoping for best finish In the postseason – or perhaps in the days and weeks leading up to it – some coaches may be tempted to make sweeping changes in the name of readiness. Krystal Kelly is not that person. The veteran Santa Clara women's golf coach has learned from those around her, particularly longtime Santa Clara head women's soccer coach, Jerry Smith. One thing about Smith's view of the postseason resonated. 'The reality is we're not changing the way we're doing anything,' said Kelly, whose young Broncos team is playing the National Golf Invitational for the third consecutive year. Kelly has coached her team to fifth- and third-place finishes at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona, these past two years. After Friday's first round, Santa Clara is 5 over and in second, two shots behind Eastern Michigan. Eastern Michigan's Angelica Holman is at the top of the individual leaderboard after a 3-under 69. Scores: National Golf Invitational A May tournament always feels special, Kelly said, because the opportunities are so limited. It's the NCAA Championship or the National Golf Invitational. But even with a strong history at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes and an increasing amount of course knowledge, Kelly isn't trying to throw some magic switch in the final stretch of the season. 'The reality is, we're not training any different, we're not prepping any different, our gameplan is still the same and I think that's where a lot of people, they look at the postseason, they don't play golf and they're like, what do you do differently?' Now in its third NGI appearance, Kelly likes the gameplan her team is following. 'Some putts dropped today and some didn't,' she said, 'but we're also really young so it's just a matter of building confidence with the younger players and getting them to buy into the process. Overall, we're in a really good spot.' Kelly brought three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior to Arizona. Freshman Proud Sriwongngam led scoring with a 2-under 70 that's also a personal best for her this season. Her round included six birdies but also a double-bogey, and Kelly is particularly proud of the way Sriwongngam bounced back without letting that big number derail her day. Sriwongngam has made five starts with the team this season and has never competed in the No. 1 spot. That changes on Saturday after earning the right to lead the lineup with her Friday play. Kelly hopes the freshman, a strong ballstriker with good distance, can embrace the opportunity and see what happens. Youth was an important factor in Santa Clara getting back to the NGI this year. 'That was kind of my pitch to the AD of going this year, was hey we just need a little bit more experience, especially having three freshmen in the lineup,' Kelly said. 'It's obviously paying dividends.' Junior Audrey Brust has played Ak-Chin Southern Dunes three times and sophomore Kelsey Kim finished in the top three here last year. Driving back from the West Coast Conference Championship (where Santa Clara was third) on April 19, Kelly's team began asking if the NGI would be in the cards. Kelly told them she thought it would. 'They didn't miss a beat. They said, 'If we get in, we want to go.'' The Santa Clara Athletic Director gave the green light and already this week, the men's team, headed to an NCAA Regional in Reno, Nevada, on May 12-14, has sent messages of good luck. Clearly, there is much support for women's golf at Santa Clara, and it's one thing that allows the Broncos to continue to be competitive in a deepening sport. Kelly, who played college golf at UCLA, looks at the creation of the NGI as 'incredibly motivating.' 'The reality is women's college golf has gotten so much better over the years and you have to be really good to make it to regionals,' Kelly said. 'For us in particular, we've increased our scholarships over the last couple years . . . so to just build a team that is capable of getting to the postseason and having the opportunity to play is incredible. 'We're hoping at some point we can make it to regionals.' But first, Santa Clara has business to do. The NGI tournament concludes on Sunday, which not only happens to be Mother's Day but also Kelly's birthday. She's already hoping to manifest something big. 'I put it in my notepad a couple days ago, we're going to win the NGI,' she said. 'That would be an incredible birthday and Mother's Day.'
