NMJC (W-Golf) Set to Tee Off at Nationals

The NMJC women's golf team competes in Round 1 of the 2026 NJCAA DI Women's Golf National Championship in Coal Valley, Ill., at Oakwood CC Monday, May 11 at 8:45 a.m. CDT.

The 72-hole tournament runs May 11-14 and is 18 holes each day.

The T-Birds are in their third year of the women's golf program and have made previous appearances at the NJCAA Women's Golf National Championship in 2024 and 2025. The team led by head coach Kendalyn Ferguson finished in fourth place at the 2025 DI Women's Golf Championship in Garden City, Kan. The 2025 team had the Thunderbirds highest finish in program history. 

The T-Birds have won two times so far this season and qualified as an at-large bid via national ranking following their third-place finish in district play. The T-Birds had a unique situation happen at the Southwest District Championship that saw NMJC only play four golfers.

"Districts was definitely a challenge this year, but every player showed up exactly the way they needed to," NMJC women's golf head coach Kendalyn Ferguson said. "We had two young ladies unable to compete because of sickness and injuries, and I was actually sick myself, so we only had four players able to compete all week. Even with those challenges, those four ladies came ready to play every day and posted the scores we needed to stay competitive. Last week really showed what it means to be a team and how resilient this group is. They had a strong enough season overall to still earn their bid to nationals, even if districts didn't end the way we thought it should have. Now our team is excited and ready to use it as a redemption opportunity here in Illinois." 

NMJC was led individually by freshman Tova Sandren who is ranked No. 13 nationally and has won one time this year. The Thunderbirds finished in the top 5 as a team in eight tournaments this season and had 11 top-5 finishes individually. 

"It would be great for Tova to go out and have a strong week, especially since she is sitting at No. 13 individually in the rankings after this season," Coach Ferguson said. "I hope she can go have fun and enjoy playing in her last tournament as a freshman. She's worked very hard this year, and I hope she can put together rounds and scores that she is proud of this week that really help the team and maybe earn herself All-American honors."

The women head into the tournament ranked sixth nationally behind No. 1 Odessa College, No. 2 Daytona State, No. 3 Seminole State, No. 4 Blinn, and No. 5 Eastern Florida State.

The T-Birds are freshmen heavy this season behind the likes of Tova Sandren, Sophie Brothwood, Megan Dawson, Ella Cornwell, and Dear Phermthongmak. The lone sophomore in the lineup is Giuliana Frutos.

"It's pretty common to have a freshman-heavy year followed by a sophomore-heavy year at the JUCO level," Coach Ferguson said. "I knew coming into this season that we were going to be young, but they have stepped up ever since our first tournament in Florida in the fall. I believe they will go into this week excited and ready for the experience of competing in a national championship tournament. They will do their best, and if nothing else, they'll gain a ton of valuable experience throughout the week that will prepare them to really go after it next year when we have a more sophomore-heavy team."

The Thunderbirds will tee off at Oakwood CC in Round 1 Monday, May 11 at 8:45 a.m. CDT.

Tee times are as follows, Ella Cornwell will tee off on Hole 1 at 8:45 a.m. CDT, Megan Dawson at 8:54 a.m. CDT, Giuliana Frutos at 9:03 a.m. CDT, Sophie Brothwood at 9:12 a.m. CDT, and Tova Sandren at 9:21 a.m CDT.

Dear Phermthongmak is the substitute for the Thunderbirds this week. The substitute can be inserted into the Thunderbirds lineup at the start of each round due to an injury or because of performance.  

T-Bird fans can follow the live scoring by clicking here and for live updates follow NMJC women's golf's Instagram @nmjc_wgolf.