Mike Roters’ first impression after being hired last July to lead the Tulsa women’s golf program was simple.
“The unwavering confidence of these girls,” Roters said. “They had big goals from the get-go; they were making nationals again.”
That confidence persisted even after losing head coach Annie Young to an assistant position at her alma mater, Oklahoma State. Even after finishing the fall ranked No. 91 in the country and 26 wins below .500. Even after entering the American Athletic Conference Championship in a win-or-go-home scenario.
“It’s all they talk about, and they haven’t proven themselves wrong yet,” Roters added. “They truly believe they’re getting there.”
The Golden Hurricane backed up that belief last week at Southern Hills Plantation in Brooksville, Florida, dominating their conference foes by 21 shots to win the program’s second AAC title and first since 2021. The victory secured an automatic bid into an NCAA regional. Midseason arrival Romaine Masserey from Switzerland became the school’s first conference medalist.
Now, Tulsa is just a top-five regional finish away from reaching a third consecutive NCAA Championship.
This almost didn’t happen.
When Young announced her departure in early July, the program nearly unraveled. Lily Thomas had already turned pro midseason to compete in LPGA Q-Series. The team’s top player, Grace Kilcrease (currently ranked No. 35 nationally), followed Young to Stillwater. Sophomore Allyn Stephens entered the transfer portal, and others were considering the same move.
Roters was recruiting in Carlsbad, California, at the IMG Academy Junior World Championships when a Tulsa administrator called. That was Tuesday; by Friday, he was hired.
He inherited a tight-knit team – including Stephens, who returned after Roters’ hire – that spends considerable time together cooking meals, holding team meetings, and communicating constantly. But that cohesiveness couldn’t immediately overcome Kilcrease’s absence last fall.
“I knew I needed to be patient with them,” Roters said, “but I also knew we needed to find another player.”
Roters reached out to his European contacts and discovered Masserey, a late-bloomer on the Swiss national team who didn’t start playing golf until age 16. A skier for much of her childhood, Masserey was graduating from Sorbonne University in Paris when Tulsa came calling.
She arrived in January and immediately helped dig Tulsa out of their hole. Her 72.8 adjusted scoring average and four top-25 finishes to close the regular season provided the spark the program needed.
“We’re not where we are today without Romaine,” Roters said.
Notable midseason arrivals
• Eila Galitsky, South Carolina (Scoreboard rank: 18)
• Chloe Kovelesky, Wake Forest (24)
• Eunseo Choi, Pepperdine (190)
• Romaine Masserey, Tulsa (208)
Since March, Roters has pushed his players – four of whom have NCAA Championship experience – to treat every tournament like a regional. The strategy has paid off. They haven’t finished outside the top five since, including their dominant conference performance where even a runner-up finish wouldn’t have been enough to get them over the .500 mark.
“I’ve just kept pressuring them, putting those scenarios on them,” Roters said. “And they just answered every time. At conference, you could see the depth and experience – they just didn’t fold and put the hammer down.”
Tulsa is currently projected as a ninth seed heading to Lubbock, Texas. If the fields were finalized today, they’d be joined by fifth-seeded Oklahoma State. Roters says his team would welcome that matchup, but it doesn’t really matter who they face.
“To be honest, I don’t think anybody wants to see us in their regional because we’re playing to a four or five seed,” Roters said. “I don’t care where we go; we’re a dangerous team right now that’s trying to upset someone.”
