Wisconsin women’s golf returned to action for the spring season at the Arizona Thunderbird Intercollegiate from Feb. 9-10. The three-round, two day tournament was the first of six tournaments in the spring season for the Badgers.
The Badgers couldn’t quite get it going, finishing in ninth place (out of 15 programs) for their first tournament of 2026.
But, with competition like No. 1 Stanford, No. 18 Arizona State, No. 20 Oklahoma State and other elite programs in the field, this was a solid start for the Badgers.
The Wisconsin lineup consisted of true freshman Grace Solcum, senior Alexia Siehl — who is competing in her fourth and final season for the Badgers, junior Kate Brody, sophomore Izzi Stricker, and senior Tammy Wu.
It was an immediate tough start for the Badgers to open the tournament. Every member of the lineup made bogey on their first hole, except for Siehl, who double bogeyed her second hole.
Slocum was able to fight back, though, holing three birdies in her opening round. She led the way for the Badgers with an opening round of three-over par. Siehl was able to steady the ship as well, only making three more bogeys in her opening round en route to a round of four-over.
Brody also scored for the Badgers, shooting five-over in her first round. Stricker was the last to score in round one with her opening round of seven-over, while Wu was scratched after her rough start of eleven-over par.
Round two saw the seniors shine as they played holes 19-36 of the day. Wu had an incredibly strong bounce back, firing a much stronger round of two-over par. Wu climbed up to 56th after day one. Siehl kept her strong play going, matching Wu’s two-over, keeping Siehl within the top 30 on the player’s leaderboard.
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It was Brody and Slocum who also scored for the Badgers, shooting four and five-over respectively. The freshman, Slocum, was able to keep herself within the top 40 at 36th, while Brody was just outside at 41st.
Stricker was scratched for her second round score of eight-over par, as she struggled to find her groove after day one. Stricker’s two-round score of fifteen-over par had her sitting at 61st.
The Badgers, as a team, sat in eighth place, needing a strong push in the third round. A strong push is not what they got, as Wisconsin shot four-strokes worse in round three, compared to their low round of 13-over in round two.
Wu kept her foot on the gas, finishing her Badgers spring debut strong with a round of three-over. She pushed into the top 50, finishing in 47th to open up spring. Fellow senior and the Badgers leader through the first two rounds Siehl fell hard in round three. She shot a team worst nine-over in the third round, falling all the way to 42nd.
Slocum opened her final round three-over through four holes on her way to a birdie-less round of five-over. Brody also went five-over, doing it with an opening birdie, which was followed by six bogeys in the next 17 holes. They both notched top 40 finishes, Slocum 34th and Brody 39th.
Stricker had her best round of the tournament in the last round, firing a round of four-over, the second best Badger round on day two. This bumped Stricker into the top 60, finishing at 56th.
The promising Slocum led the Badgers in scoring, with her final tournament score of thirteen-over par, to kick off 2026. Anytime a true freshman leads the team across all three three rounds, fans and staff can get excited for her future. Certainly everyone will be watching her closely next tournament to see what she can do and whether or not she can keep the ball rolling.
Most would agree a ninth place finish isn’t what the Badgers hoped for to kickoff the spring. But, they did outplace the 20th best women’s golf program in the country, Oklahoma State, which is something to build off of for the rest of the season.
With their next event of the spring, the Westbrook Invitational, which will take place Feb. 22, being a home event, the Badgers can hopefully pick up some momentum to kick 2026 into gear.
