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AUSTIN, Tx. — The Houston Christian women’s golf team returns to action on Monday and Tuesday at the Betsy Rawls Texas Invitational, hosted by Texas at The University of Texas Golf Club. The two-day tournament features a deep 16-team field, with 36 holes scheduled for Monday, Mar. 16, followed by the final 18 holes on Tuesday, Mar. 17.
The Huskies will send a five-player lineup of Alejandra Ferrer, Alyssa Stewart, Hailey Hendershott, Natcha Makmanee and Sara Pihlajamaki into competition. HCU enters the event coming off a strong performance at the Riverbend Intercollegiate, where the Huskies finished second in a 16-team field on their home course with a three-round total of 886 (+22). HCU finished behind only Louisville and held off Tarleton State and Austin Peay to secure the runner-up finish.
HCU has put together a solid 2025-26 campaign entering the week. The Huskies opened the season with a fourth-place finish at The Lady Clerico before placing second at the Red Raider Invitational and tying for fifth at the Golf Iconic Classic. After the fall slate, HCU came back in the spring with a third-place finish at the Texas State Invitational and followed that with a team title at the Islanders Collegiate Invitational. The Huskies most recently added a second-place showing at Riverbend, continuing a strong stretch of play heading into Austin.
Several Huskies bring steady individual form into the tournament. Natcha Makmanee owns the team’s lowest scoring average at 73.6 and has recorded seven par-or-better rounds this season, along with top-five finishes at the Red Raider Invitational, Golf Iconic Classic and Islanders Collegiate Invitational. Alejandra Ferrer has also been one of HCU’s top performers, averaging 74.0 strokes per round and posting the team’s lowest 54-hole tournament score of the season with a 212 (-4) at the Texas State Invitational, where she finished fourth overall. Ferrer also owns the Huskies’ lowest individual round of the year with a 67 in the second round of that event.
Alyssa Stewart enters the week with a 74.6 scoring average over 20 rounds and has produced one top-five, one top-10 and one top-20 finish this season. She placed second at the Islanders Collegiate Invitational and turned in her best single round of the spring with a 68 at Riverbend. Sara Pihlajamaki has been another reliable presence in the lineup, averaging 75.0 across 20 rounds while recording a top-10 finish at Riverbend as an individual. Hailey Hendershott rounds out the group with a 76.0 stroke average and has shown her ability to go low, including a 69 in the second round of the Texas State Invitational earlier this spring.
As a team, the Huskies have continued to show they can produce low rounds. HCU’s best round of the season came at the Texas State Invitational, where the team fired a 281 in round two. The Huskies also posted rounds of 285 and 286 during the fall and have recorded 23 par-or-better rounds as part of their four-player team scoring this season.
The field in Austin includes host Texas, along with Arkansas, LSU, Oklahoma, Pepperdine, TCU, Oregon State, Troy, UTSA, Boise State, BYU, Harvard, Chattanooga, Sam Houston, UIW and HCU. Several nationally-ranked programs are scheduled to compete, making this one of the toughest events on HCU’s spring schedule.
The Huskies are set to begin first-round play Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. HCU players will tee off on holes 13 through 16 alongside competitors from Sam Houston, UIW and Troy. Alyssa Stewart opens on hole 13, Natcha Makmanee on 14B, Alejandra Ferrer on 14A, Hailey Hendershott on 15 and Sara Pihlajamaki on 16.
