A strong start to the final round turned into another difficult finish for the K-State women’s golf team Wednesday. The Wildcats shot a 12-over 300 for the second consecutive round at Royal Golf Club, finishing 11th at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate Presented by 3M with a 42-over 906. K-State finished one stroke behind Houston for 10th place and five strokes behind Missouri for ninth.

“It was obviously a disappointing week,” head coach Stew Burke said. “There were some positives early in the round, but unfortunately, we did not do well on the final nine once again. We need to work on finishing off rounds.”

The Wildcats’ best individual performance came from junior Nanami Nakashima, who provided K-State with its first under-par round of the season. Nakashima shot a 4-under 68 Wednesday to move up 16 spots on the leaderboard and tied for 22nd at 2-over 218 overall.

After starting on the back nine, Nakashima bogeyed No. 12 but responded with three birdies over the next four holes. She birdied holes 15, 17 and 18 to make the turn at two under, and added two more birdies on the front nine at holes 4 and 6. After a bogey on hole 7, Nakashima closed her round with a birdie on the par-5 ninth.

“Nanami Nakashima had a great tournament in extremely difficult conditions,” Burke said.

Freshman Amy Wang finished her first collegiate tournament in 44th place at 11-over 227, shooting a 5-over 77 in the final round. Burke also pointed to Wang as one of the tournament’s positives.

“There were some bright sparks from our freshman, Amy Wang,” Burke said.

Senior Julia Ballester Barrio finished 51st at 15-over 231 after shooting a 3-over 75 in the final round. Sophomore Stalee Fields finished one stroke behind her in 52nd at 16-over 232 after shooting a 9-over 81.

Junior Kelsey Chen rounded out the Wildcats’ lineup, tying for 55th at 20-over 236 after shooting an 8-over 80 Wednesday.

Wake Forest won the team title by 10 strokes at 24-under 840, and USC finished second at 14-under 850.

UCLA’s Michelle Xing won the individual title at 9-under 207 after shooting a 7-under 65 in the final round, edging Wake Forest’s Chloe Kovelesky by one stroke. 

For K-State, the focus now turns to fixing the issues that surfaced during its season opener.

“I expect a tweak to the lineup for the next event,” Burke said. “We have to use some time to refresh and get to work before our next event.”

The Wildcats return to competition Sept. 19-21 at the Schooner Fall Classic at Belmar Golf Club in Norman, Okla.