Kansas State University Athletics
Traveling the Globe to Find Her Calmness
Oct 16, 2025 | Women's Golf, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Twenty-seven days after she contributed to the first NCAA Championship appearance in the history of Kansas State women's golf — a magical year for the Wildcats that ended on May 18, 2025, at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California — senior Noa van Beek stood upon one of the greenest patches in the world in Nairn, Scotland, as one of 144 women's golfers from over 30 countries invited to compete in the R&A Women's Amateur Championship in the picturesque Scottland Highlands.
There was no stop in 22-year-old van Beek, a native of Oene, Netherlands, who was in the midst of a 10-month stretch of golf carrying clubs and dogged determination across golf courses around the world, thirsting for consistent technical improvement to take a few strokes off her game, and training to locate and maintain the inner calmness necessary to ascend to heights unforeseen back when Rene sent his 7-year-old daughter to the golf course to hit golf balls with a club even taller than her, and when she was a 10-year-old accepted to the Dutch National Team years ago.
At the R&A Women's Amateur Championship, van Beek made the cut after a playoff, thus advancing to match play. Her caddie? K-State head coach Stew Burke, who had traveled with assistant coach Rinko Mitsunaga, to study and guide their lone senior through one of the top women's amateur events in the world.
van Beek was invited to compete in several other summer tournaments, as well, including St. Rule Trophy (Scotland), the Islantilla Open (Spain), the European Ladies' Amateur Championship (Germany), and Dutch Amateur Championship (Netherlands) — a three-month international voyage that tested her skills and mind while battling across beautiful venues.
"I didn't plan on playing 10 months straight, but I got some invites to play in some tournaments, so it was a little bit more than I planned," van Beek says. "But it helped a lot. They were all good experiences and tough fields and that definitely helps a lot. Stew and Rinko were with me at the R&A in Scotland, and having Stew caddie was a great start to the summer."
After her amazing tour, van Beek packed up and flew to Manhattan, preparing to experience her last this, and her last that, as an experienced senior in the twilight of her collegiate career, carrying that veteran presence for a talented squad that featured a myriad of fresh faces.
The 2025-26 K-State women's golf roster includes junior Julia Ballester Barrio (Spain), sophomore transfer Kelsey Chen (China), freshman Stalee Fields (Texas), freshman Casey Kang (China), sophomore Nanami Nakashima (Japan), Alenka Navarro (Mexico), freshman Keen Visavapattamawan (Thailand), and van Beek (Netherlands).
"There was definitely a lot of excitement," van Beek says. "For me, I wanted to enjoy every little moment because it's my last year. So, everything is your last time. I didn't know what to expect with so many new girls on the team. There was a lot of positivity that I took from last year. There were no expectations, but I knew that we'd have a good team. Stew and Rinko know what they're doing.
"We're very international on the team with only one American, and we're all really accepting of each other, and that helps a lot. We're just having a lot of fun."
Currently, van Beek might be having the most fun of all.
After she tied for a career-best sixth-place finish at 5-over par 221 at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, that finished on October 1, van Beek enjoyed her best tournament as a collegiate golfer by tying for fourth place at 4-over par 144 at the OU Intercollegiate at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson that finished on October 7. van Beek rose 16 spots on the leaderboard with a final-round tally of even-par 70 thanks to three-straight birdies to open the back 9. It was her sixth round of even- or under-par golf this season.
van Beek has found her calm.
"It feels really good," she says. "We had a very long spring season last year, and then I went straight into summer season. I just kept playing the whole time. Once my mindset is there, I can get it together pretty well. It's just all about having the right mindset and making barely any mistakes and making the opportunities that you have. My mind just gets really quiet. I get really calm. I don't really think about anything. It's just blank. And once I get to my shot, I just do my routine, I commit to it, and I hit it with full commitment. It feels very relaxed and very in the moment. Very calm."
In a span of one week, van Beek recorded a pair of top-10 finishes.
van Beek had three top 10 finishes in her three-year career heading into October.
"With her technicals, she has gotten a lot better," Burke says. "She trusted in us to do a little bit of work on technique, and for me the most impressive thing is she worked on what we did. She knows her own golf game. If it goes one way or another, she knows how to fix it, which as a coach is the most important thing. Her putting has improved — has really, really improved. She's gone from a below-average putter to a well-above average putter. The technique in her putting is what's really taken her to that next level."
Entering her senior season, van Beek ranked fourth all-time at K-State with a career scoring average of 74.47.
After four events this fall, van Beek leads the team with a 71.73 scoring average and has finished top 15 in three of four tournaments.
"She's been in our system longer and always had the attributes, but the most important thing is obviously understanding your game and having the tools to know how to score," Burke says. "From a physical standpoint, it'd be like having a running back who could zig and zag and go really fast but couldn't find the hole or know when to cut. That's what's really helped her this year.
"She gets the absolute best out of what she brings to the golf course that day."
Today, as she wears all purple and sits at a table inside the Colbert Hills clubhouse, and less than half a football field away from the first tee to the par-72, 6,439-yard Colbert Hills Golf Course, van Beek eyes one of her senior goals — an individual championship — which could come as K-State hosts the Powercat Invitational on Monday and Tuesday. Last year, individual winner Carla Bernat led the Wildcats to a wire-to-wire victory in the event.
The Powercat Invitational will mark the final event in the fall season. The Wildcats will begin the spring season at the Puerto Rico Classic on February 1-3 in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.
"I would love to get an individual win before I graduate," van Beek says. "It's a very tough thing to do and not many people get to get an individual win. I'd hope to maybe get it next week at the home tournament, but I don't want to pressure myself too much, and it slips off. But getting an individual win, and getting a personal best in tournament scoring, yeah, I think of little stuff like that.
"But I'm very excited for the last tournament for the fall — our home tournament. The goal for me is to get a win out of it. I feel like everybody on our team should feel that way. We all know the course, and we're all good players. As a team, we definitely want to beat everybody by as much as possible. I'm pretty excited to finish the fall off strong."
Then comes the spring. And who knows what memorable achievements that might bring. There's ample optimism as van Beek looks toward the future.
Most of all, after all her travels, she has found her calm. And she's putting it on display while playing the best golf of her college career.
"I've been playing for 10 months straight," she says. "I haven't really taken a break. But I also feel like that's what's helping me. It's been really cool. It was just a lot of traveling this summer."
With many more travels to come.
Twenty-seven days after she contributed to the first NCAA Championship appearance in the history of Kansas State women's golf — a magical year for the Wildcats that ended on May 18, 2025, at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California — senior Noa van Beek stood upon one of the greenest patches in the world in Nairn, Scotland, as one of 144 women's golfers from over 30 countries invited to compete in the R&A Women's Amateur Championship in the picturesque Scottland Highlands.
There was no stop in 22-year-old van Beek, a native of Oene, Netherlands, who was in the midst of a 10-month stretch of golf carrying clubs and dogged determination across golf courses around the world, thirsting for consistent technical improvement to take a few strokes off her game, and training to locate and maintain the inner calmness necessary to ascend to heights unforeseen back when Rene sent his 7-year-old daughter to the golf course to hit golf balls with a club even taller than her, and when she was a 10-year-old accepted to the Dutch National Team years ago.
At the R&A Women's Amateur Championship, van Beek made the cut after a playoff, thus advancing to match play. Her caddie? K-State head coach Stew Burke, who had traveled with assistant coach Rinko Mitsunaga, to study and guide their lone senior through one of the top women's amateur events in the world.
van Beek was invited to compete in several other summer tournaments, as well, including St. Rule Trophy (Scotland), the Islantilla Open (Spain), the European Ladies' Amateur Championship (Germany), and Dutch Amateur Championship (Netherlands) — a three-month international voyage that tested her skills and mind while battling across beautiful venues.
"I didn't plan on playing 10 months straight, but I got some invites to play in some tournaments, so it was a little bit more than I planned," van Beek says. "But it helped a lot. They were all good experiences and tough fields and that definitely helps a lot. Stew and Rinko were with me at the R&A in Scotland, and having Stew caddie was a great start to the summer."
After her amazing tour, van Beek packed up and flew to Manhattan, preparing to experience her last this, and her last that, as an experienced senior in the twilight of her collegiate career, carrying that veteran presence for a talented squad that featured a myriad of fresh faces.
The 2025-26 K-State women's golf roster includes junior Julia Ballester Barrio (Spain), sophomore transfer Kelsey Chen (China), freshman Stalee Fields (Texas), freshman Casey Kang (China), sophomore Nanami Nakashima (Japan), Alenka Navarro (Mexico), freshman Keen Visavapattamawan (Thailand), and van Beek (Netherlands).
"There was definitely a lot of excitement," van Beek says. "For me, I wanted to enjoy every little moment because it's my last year. So, everything is your last time. I didn't know what to expect with so many new girls on the team. There was a lot of positivity that I took from last year. There were no expectations, but I knew that we'd have a good team. Stew and Rinko know what they're doing.
"We're very international on the team with only one American, and we're all really accepting of each other, and that helps a lot. We're just having a lot of fun."
Currently, van Beek might be having the most fun of all.
After she tied for a career-best sixth-place finish at 5-over par 221 at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, that finished on October 1, van Beek enjoyed her best tournament as a collegiate golfer by tying for fourth place at 4-over par 144 at the OU Intercollegiate at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson that finished on October 7. van Beek rose 16 spots on the leaderboard with a final-round tally of even-par 70 thanks to three-straight birdies to open the back 9. It was her sixth round of even- or under-par golf this season.
van Beek has found her calm.
"It feels really good," she says. "We had a very long spring season last year, and then I went straight into summer season. I just kept playing the whole time. Once my mindset is there, I can get it together pretty well. It's just all about having the right mindset and making barely any mistakes and making the opportunities that you have. My mind just gets really quiet. I get really calm. I don't really think about anything. It's just blank. And once I get to my shot, I just do my routine, I commit to it, and I hit it with full commitment. It feels very relaxed and very in the moment. Very calm."
In a span of one week, van Beek recorded a pair of top-10 finishes.
van Beek had three top 10 finishes in her three-year career heading into October.
"With her technicals, she has gotten a lot better," Burke says. "She trusted in us to do a little bit of work on technique, and for me the most impressive thing is she worked on what we did. She knows her own golf game. If it goes one way or another, she knows how to fix it, which as a coach is the most important thing. Her putting has improved — has really, really improved. She's gone from a below-average putter to a well-above average putter. The technique in her putting is what's really taken her to that next level."
Entering her senior season, van Beek ranked fourth all-time at K-State with a career scoring average of 74.47.
After four events this fall, van Beek leads the team with a 71.73 scoring average and has finished top 15 in three of four tournaments.
"She's been in our system longer and always had the attributes, but the most important thing is obviously understanding your game and having the tools to know how to score," Burke says. "From a physical standpoint, it'd be like having a running back who could zig and zag and go really fast but couldn't find the hole or know when to cut. That's what's really helped her this year.
"She gets the absolute best out of what she brings to the golf course that day."
Today, as she wears all purple and sits at a table inside the Colbert Hills clubhouse, and less than half a football field away from the first tee to the par-72, 6,439-yard Colbert Hills Golf Course, van Beek eyes one of her senior goals — an individual championship — which could come as K-State hosts the Powercat Invitational on Monday and Tuesday. Last year, individual winner Carla Bernat led the Wildcats to a wire-to-wire victory in the event.
The Powercat Invitational will mark the final event in the fall season. The Wildcats will begin the spring season at the Puerto Rico Classic on February 1-3 in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.
"I would love to get an individual win before I graduate," van Beek says. "It's a very tough thing to do and not many people get to get an individual win. I'd hope to maybe get it next week at the home tournament, but I don't want to pressure myself too much, and it slips off. But getting an individual win, and getting a personal best in tournament scoring, yeah, I think of little stuff like that.
"But I'm very excited for the last tournament for the fall — our home tournament. The goal for me is to get a win out of it. I feel like everybody on our team should feel that way. We all know the course, and we're all good players. As a team, we definitely want to beat everybody by as much as possible. I'm pretty excited to finish the fall off strong."
Then comes the spring. And who knows what memorable achievements that might bring. There's ample optimism as van Beek looks toward the future.
Most of all, after all her travels, she has found her calm. And she's putting it on display while playing the best golf of her college career.
"I've been playing for 10 months straight," she says. "I haven't really taken a break. But I also feel like that's what's helping me. It's been really cool. It was just a lot of traveling this summer."
With many more travels to come.
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
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