Breakthrough Win Powers Kansas State's Kelsey Chen Named Big 12 Golfer of the Week

A career-defining week puts Kelsey Chen in the Big 12 spotlight

Kansas State Golf | Scott Sewell-Imagn Images

Kansas State women’s golf has a new headline moment, and it belongs to sophomore Kelsey Chen. On Thursday, the Big 12 Conference announced Chen as the Big 12 Women’s Golfer of the Week. She has officially recognized her breakthrough performance and signaled her arrival as one of the league’s rising stars.

Puerto Rico Classic Delivers a Career Moment For Kansas State

The honor carries special significance for the Wildcats. Chen becomes the first Kansas State golfer to earn an in-season Big 12 accolade since March 2024. She also enters the record books as one of the first recipients under the conference’s new weekly award format.

Big 12 Women's Golfer of the Week, Kelsey Chen!

Full release ➡️ https://t.co/rgpqpx4BXj#EMAW👌 pic.twitter.com/Up4nOrDB1i

— K-State Women's Golf (@KStateWGolf) February 5, 2026

Previously, the Big 12 recognized golfers every month. However, a spring vote shifted the honor to a weekly schedule to better reflect in-season momentum and standout performances.

Chen’s recognition is rooted in a defining performance at the Puerto Rico Classic, where she delivered a dramatic breakthrough win. Entering the final round, Chen faced a daunting six-shot deficit. What followed was a display of poise and competitive resolve that reshaped the leaderboard.

Chen erased the gap and finished tied for first place at 10 under par, 206. The score marked her first collegiate victory and tied for the sixth-best 54-hole total in Kansas State women’s golf history.

Chen’s win stands as the 28th individual championship in program history and the ninth under head coach Stew Burke. She closed her fall season with a third-place finish at the Powercat Invitational. That made the Puerto Rico Classic her second consecutive top-five finish.

In Puerto Rico, Chen outplayed 15 golfers ranked inside the top 100 of the National Collegiate Golf Rankings, including the No. 1-ranked player in the nation. Her steady performance anchored Kansas State to a sixth-place team finish in a deep 18-team field.

Numbers That Show a Sophomore Leap

Chen’s statistical growth paints a clear picture of a player taking a major step forward. At the Puerto Rico Classic, she improved her previous career-best 54-hole score by three strokes and finished under par in all three rounds. Her tournament featured matching bookends of 4-under-par 68s in the opening and closing rounds, tying her career single-round low.

Her ability to go low has become a defining trait. Chen now owns four rounds in the 60s across just 17 rounds this season. By comparison, she recorded only one round in the 60s during 33 rounds as a freshman at Georgia Southern last year.

Before arriving in Manhattan, Chen made her mark at Georgia Southern, where she posted a 74.93 scoring average and helped the Eagles reach the 2025 NCAA Championship. Even then, the Puerto Rico Classic seemed to suit her game, as her best finish last season was a sixth place showing at the same event.

Her foundation was built even earlier in Dalian, China, where she emerged as an accomplished junior golfer. Chen won the 2023 Buick National Junior and the 2022 Super Lychee National and also finished as the low amateur at the China LPGA Q School.

With a breakthrough win and a Big 12 weekly honor to her name, Chen now leads Kansas State into its next challenge. The Wildcats will return to action at the Westbrook Invitational on February 22 and 23 at Westbrook Village GC in Peoria, Arizona.

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