Baylor Women’s Golf Set for Big-Time Test at Arizona Thunderbird Intercollegiate
TUCSON, Ariz. - When Giovana Maymon picked up the phone to invite Baylor to the inaugural Arizona Thunderbird Intercollegiate, head coach Jay Goble didn’t hesitate. “The second she asked me,” he said. And for good reason.
Maymon, a key player on Baylor’s 2015 NCAA runner-up squad, is now leading the charge at Arizona. In just her first year as head coach, she guided the Wildcats to a Big 12 Championship. Now, as she hosts her first tournament at the helm, Goble and the Bears are showing up to support - and compete.
“She's someone I really admire,” Goble said. “I just want to support her and her team by coming out and playing in the event.”
But this isn’t just a friendly visit. This week’s tournament at Tucson Country Club features some of the best teams in the country.
Baylor, ranked No. 21, will tee it up alongside No. 22 Arizona and No.
1 Stanford in Monday’s opening round - a high-stakes pairing that offers a clear measuring stick for where the Bears stand.
“We're going to get a really good look at where we stack up against the best teams in the country,” Goble said. “We're going to get a front-row seat to that this weekend.”
The field is stacked. Five top-25 programs are in the mix: Stanford, Arizona, Baylor, No.
18 Arizona State, and No. 20 Oklahoma State.
Texas Tech and Colorado, both in the top 50, add even more depth. Rounding out the competition are UNC-Charlotte, Marshall, UALR, Wisconsin, Seattle, Cal Poly, Grand Canyon, and BYU.
Coming off a fourth-place finish at the UCF Challenge, Goble is making a few tweaks to the lineup. Freshman Amelia Wan gets the nod at No. 1, followed by senior Bridget Boczar, sophomore Malena Castro, senior Silje Ohma, and first-semester freshman Paloma Ibarra Ambia.
Wan made an immediate splash last week, opening with a 6-under 66 and finishing tied for 10th at 5-under 211. Castro was even better, tying for fourth at 7-under 209. Boczar, competing as an individual, caught fire in the second round with a 4-under 68 and ended up tied for 14th at 3-under 213.
One notable absence this week: junior transfer Yurang Li. After a strong fall season that included back-to-back wins, Li has been battling illness and will sit out in Tucson. She finished tied for 35th at 3-over 219 in last week's event.
“I think it’s best for her to get rest and get ready for Houston,” Goble said, referring to the upcoming Chevron Challenge on Feb. 23-24.
“It kind of hurts not to have her in the lineup. But again, we need her later on in the year.
We don’t, per se, need her right this second.”
The tournament kicks off Monday with a 9:30 a.m. CT shotgun start.
Baylor will play the opening round alongside Stanford, Arizona, and Wisconsin - a marquee grouping with plenty of firepower. Live scoring will be available throughout the event.
This isn’t just another early-season tournament. For Baylor, it’s a chance to test themselves against elite competition, support a former Bear turned head coach, and fine-tune the lineup as the spring season ramps up. The road to the postseason is long, but weekends like this can reveal a lot about a team’s ceiling - and Baylor’s about to find out just how high theirs might be.