Andover’s Katy Winters juggles golf, work and motherhood to become Wichita city champ
Katy Winters once again earned the title of the best women’s golfer in Wichita, but that was only the start of her Thursday.
After successfully defending her title in the 82nd annual Wichita Area Women’s Golf Association Match Play tournament at Crestview Country Club, Winters went straight from the course to her job at Koch Industries in the afternoon.
A few meetings later when her work for the day was done, Winters was off to pick up her children and treat them to ice cream.
It was all in the day of the life of Winters, the supermom golf extraordinaire.
“I’ll definitely find some time to celebrate tonight,” said Winters, who was still on the run during her phone interview with The Eagle on Thursday evening. “It’s funny, after I got out of that meeting, (winning) finally started to sink in and I started thinking about my up-and-downs on 13 and 14.
“Man, those were good,” she added, laughing.
The golf success is nothing new to Winters (formerly Nugent), a 2008 Andover graduate who was a high school state champion and played Division I golf at Arkansas and Kansas.
After dabbling with a professional golf career after college, Winters regained her amateur status in 2018 and has been racking up the trophies ever since. She’s won the last two city match play championships, making her a 4-time city champion, and also won the Kansas Women’s Mid-Amateur earlier this summer.
On Thursday, Winters leaned heavily on her short game to defeat current Wichita State golfer and Derby native Kenni Henson, 3-and-2, in the finals.
“There is such an awesome, young talent pool in the area right now, so every year these get harder and harder to win,” Winters said. “But that makes winning feel even sweeter.”
Not only is the competition improving, as mainstays like Denise Desilet and Paula Routon, who have combined for 13 city championships, are still playing at a high level plus an insurgence of young talent, but Winters’ life is also busier than ever, working a full-time job and raising children.
Throughout the tournament this week, Winters would finish her round in the morning, then head straight from the golf course to work to finish out the day.
With the help of her husband, Dan, also a former Division I golfer, Winters has found a way to make the busy schedule work while maintaining her skills on the golf course.
“We love to play together and we both love to compete and he’s super supportive, so that’s definitely a huge part of it,” Winters said. “Since we’ve had kids, hopefully in time they’ll enjoy watching me compete and maybe get out here and caddy for me. Hopefully golf will be a fun family thing over the years.”
While the couple’s oldest son, who turns 3 in August, may not grasp how good of a golfer his mother is, he did grow fond of playing with the match play championship trophy over the last year.
He was crestfallen when his mother had to return the trophy on Monday at the start of tournament play. Breaking the news that the trophy was coming back home was one of the highlights of a very busy day for Winters on Thursday.
“I have some fun pictures of him from last year playing with the trophy,” Winters said. “I told him I had to win the trophy back again, so when I picked him up today and told him I won the trophy again, he got all excited. So that was really cool.”
Wichita Area Women’s Golf Association Match Play tournament
Championship flight
Quarterfinals: Tilma def. Johnsen, 5 and 3; Henson def. Wolff, 5 and 3; Winters def. Desilet, 5 and 4; Heinen def. Ridder, 6 and 4. Semifinals: Henson def. Tilma, 5 and 4; Winters def. Heinen, 4 and 3. Finals: Winters def. Henson, 3 and 2. Consolation: Wolff def. Johnsen, 7 and 5; Desilet def. Ridder, 20 holes. Third place: Desilet def. Wolff, 4 and 2.
First flight
Quarterfinals: Beury def. Welk, 2 up; Mueller def. Hiebsch, 6 and 5; Routon def. Wilbur, 1 up; Sherwood def. Thomas, 4 and 3. Semifinals: Beury def. Mueller, 1 up; Routon def. Sherwood, 2 up. Finals: Beury def. Routon, 7 and 6. Consolation: Hiebsch def. Welk, 2 and 1; Thomas def. Wilbur, 19 holes. Third place: Thomas def. Hiebsch, 2 and 1.
Second flight
Quarterfinals: Gribble def. Hager, 5 and 3; Alterman def. Worrell, 3 and 2; Gangel def. Messamore, 2 and 1; Wittrig def. Markey, 2 up. Semifinals: Alterman def. Gribble, 6 and 5; Gangel def. Wittrig, 5 and 3. Finals: Gangel def. Alterman, 3 and 1. Consolation: Hager def. Worrell, 3 and 2; Messamore def. Markey, 7 and 6. Third place: Messamore def. Hager, 6 and 4.
Third flight
Quarterfinals: Bullock def. McCormack, 1 up; Fisher def. Komp, 7 and 6; Dome def. Dilsaver-Millan, 19 holes; Slater def. Ast, 8 and 6. Semifinals: Bullock def. Fisher, 3 and 2; Dome def. Slater, 3 and 2. Finals: Dome def. Bullock, 4 and 3. Consolation: McCormack def. Komp, 5 and 3; Dilsaver-Millan def. Ast, 6 and 4. Third place: McCormack def. Dilsaver-Millan, 3 and 2.
Fourth flight
Quarterfinals: Arnold def. Parks, 5 and 3; Keller def. Shelton, 8 and 6. Semifinals: Arnold def. Helean, 6 and 4; Ebel def. Keller, 5 and 4. Finals: Arnold def. Ebel, 7 and 6. Third place: Parks def. Shelton, 3 and 1.
This story was originally published July 22, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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