SEWARD, Neb. – Sophomore Murphy Sears has been named the NAIA National Women’s Golfer of the Week, the national office announced Wednesday. Sears was selected based on her performances from April 4 – April 10 and was chosen out of a pool of conference, Association of Independent Institutions and unaffiliated group winners. Sears is believed to be the first national weekly award winner in the history of the Concordia women’s golf program.
Sears was also tabbed the GPAC/Hauff Mid-America Sports Women’s Golfer of the Week, as announced by the conference on Tuesday (April 10). She is the program’s first GPAC player of the week since April 2017 when Amy Ahlers collected her seventh career weekly award.
Sears has been the team’s top golfer since Ahlers graduated last May. A native of Crete, Neb., Sears recorded the first tournament win of her career by shooting a career best one-over-par 73 while navigating the course at Miracle Hill in Omaha. Her efforts helped the Bulldogs place third as a team with a season best score (343) by nearly 30 strokes. Prior to last week, Sears’ top score as a collegiate golfer was a 78.
Sears placed 11th in the GPAC as a freshman in 2016-17. Her average 18-hole score of 84.44 this season is tops on the team. Over 24 career rounds, Sears owns an average of 86.0 with six career top 10 tournament finishes.
Head coach Brett Muller’s women’s golf program is set to return to action on Thursday at the Kaitlyn Erickson Invite at Wilderness Ridge Golf Club in Lincoln.