4 August 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — They call it the future of women’s golf.
For the second straight year, the Women’s All Pro Tour is playing at the birthplace of the Ladies Professional Golf Association. The women’s professional circuit was founded in 1950 at Wichita’s Rolling Hills Country Club. That’s also the site of this weekend’s Women’s All-Pro Tour Heritage Classic.
LPGA was established on Sept. 30, 1950, at the Rolling Hills Country Club (KSN Photo)
Rachel Stous and Kate Tilma are the only Kansans competing at the Heritage Classic. The two don’t know each other, but they actually have a few things in common.
Stous is a Topeka High graduate and a former Wichita State University golfer. She’s a part-time player on the WAPT Tour who now lives in Florida. She jumped at the chance to come home.
Rachel Stous (KSN Photo)
Rachel Stous (KSN Photo)
“Yeah, just to play in this tournament. An opportunity to play in my home state,” said Stous.
Tilma is a Kapuan Mount Carmel grad. She will be a sophomore on the Wichita State golf team this fall. Like Stous, Tilma wants to play professionally after college.
Kate Tilma (KSN Photo)
Kate Tilma (KSN Photo)
“It’s really cool because I get to play with people who I’ve played in college before and kind of see what the next step is like,” said Tilma, whose father played baseball at WSU. Her mother golfed at both Tulsa and Oklahoma.
Both Tilma and Stous have left their marks on the Kansas amateur ranks. Stous is a two-time Kansas City Match Play winner. She’s also the 2021 Kansas Women’s Amateur Champ. Tilma won both the Kansas Junior and Amateur titles as a 16-year-old in 2020.
“Yeah, I became the youngest person to ever win the Am, and it was really cool because all my family was there, and they’re all big Kansas Am,” said the 19-year-old Tilma. “My mom’s won it, and my grandpa’s won it, and my uncles won it. My cousins won it. So, it’s cool to join the lineup. They were excited.”
So, what do the pair of Kansans hope to accomplish this weekend at Rolling Hills?
“Just opportunity to really just, you know, have fun. See where my game’s at before Stage One. See my family,” said Stous, referring to Stage One of LPGA qualifying school.
“I’m excited to learn. I think I’m going to go out and try to play my best. But I think, good or bad, I’m going to learn something to take to the next tournament. And there will be positives, and there will be negatives, but I’m going to learn something,” said Tilma.
Tilma learned did indeed learn something after Thursday’s first round. She made a mistake by signing the wrong scorecard and was disqualified from the tournament.
Stous opened with a first-round score of 73 and followed that with a second-round 72. That was good enough to make the cut for the weekend at +1 over par. The leader halfway through the tournament has a score of -8 below par.