By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
Getting back to campus this year felt a little bit different for seniors Britta Snyder and Rosie Belsham. After all, the Baylor women’s golf duo is entering their final year in green and gold, and all eyes are going to be on them at the top of the lineup.
“They know success,” head coach Jay Goble said. “They know a lot of success, and their time here has probably been like the golden age of Baylor women’s golf.”
They’ve been to three-straight NCAA Championships together on the golf course and are both two-time All-Big 12 Team selections. Being a consistent winner is all Snyder and Belsham know, but they can no longer look around the locker room for veteran leadership. Gurleen Kaur, Hannah Karg and Addie Baggarly are long gone, so Belsham and Snyder are shouldering the expectations senior leadership entails.
Belsham said getting back to the Billy W. Williams Golf Practice Facility on Monday felt the same at first, but that being a senior started to hit her and Snyder moments later.
“Britta and I were just talking about it earlier; it’s scary,” Belsham said. “All summer, we’ve been like, ‘Oh yeah, I can’t wait to be done. I’m a senior.’ And now it’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to do.’”
Neither of them is alone in the process, as the two golfers have been at Baylor for their entire college careers. Snyder and Belsham joined the program at the same time in fall 2020, and they’ve been roommates from the jump.
“We’ve been [attached] at the hip ever since,” Snyder said. “So we’ve been great friends, and it’s been so much fun to have someone to go through college with.”
But that first year on campus was far from normal for the two of them. Belsham and Snyder had to deal with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic from a student-athlete standpoint. It was a juggling act for the freshman tandem, but they said they were just grateful to have each other.
Belsham, a native of Whitley Bay, England, said that it was a weird time and that she and Snyder never really got the hang of campus until their sophomore year. The English golfer mentioned how important having an American roommate was during those trying times.
Three years later, they are the only seniors on the roster. As far as the team goes, Baylor is essentially bringing back its entire 2022-23 lineup. The only missing piece is Karg, who wrapped up her senior season in the spring. Juniors Sera Hasegawa and BaiMai Seema along with sophomore Silje Ohma round out a strong returning five for Goble. If there’s one thing Goble is sure of, it’s that Belsham and Snyder “don’t accept mediocrity” and that they’ll do whatever it takes to win tournaments.
Goble said the standard of Baylor women’s golf has intensified due to what his two seniors have done over the years.
“I just feel comfortable in the fact that we’re going to continue to be one of the better teams in the country because they came in [and] they’ve shown how great we can be here at Baylor,” Goble said. “And it’s helped in recruiting. It’s helped in our tournament schedule. [And] probably more than anything, it’s helped with our self-belief and the fact that we can go out and compete with any team in the country on any given day.”
Snyder said that she and Belsham are proud of what they’ve accomplished since their arrival at Baylor and that they’ve been motivated to become household names.
“It’s huge that Rosie and I know that we’re going to leave a legacy at Baylor,” Snyder said. “It’s great to see what we’ve been able to accomplish and what we’re hopefully going to accomplish and just the way that we’ve been able to help other girls on the team and kind of show them the ropes. It’s been really great to just leave a legacy that we want to leave.”
As proud as they are of making it to three-straight NCAA Championships since the shortened 2019-20 season, both athletes expressed how determined they are to cap off this coming season on a higher note. The Bears finished in 17th place last year, so Snyder and Belsham said they want to take a determined stride toward the ultimate prize. They also said they have their eyes set on a Big 12 Championship after falling short (second place) last year.
Belsham and Snyder’s first opportunity to lead the charge of this journey comes when Baylor opens its fall season at The Annika Intercollegiate — a three-day event that starts on Sept. 11 in Minneapolis.
