Just days after making their debut appearance in the NCAA Championship, Kansas State women’s golf head coach Stew Burke has strengthened the 2025-26 roster by signing transfer Jiarui (Kelsey) Chen.
Chen transfers to K-State following a standout freshman season at Georgia Southern, where she posted a 74.93 scoring average and earned six top-20 finishes.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Kelsey to our team this fall,” said Burke. “She brings valuable postseason experience from both the NCAA Regional and NCAA Championship.
With our lineup trending younger, her maturity and competitive background will be a key addition. Kelsey has tremendous potential, and we’re excited to help her continue developing at K-State and beyond.”
Originally from Dalian, China, Chen was part of a Georgia Southern team that shared second place with K-State in the NCAA Lexington Regional and advanced to the 2025 NCAA Championship.
Her top performance came at the Puerto Rico Classic, where she finished sixth at 3-under-par 213. She also tied for 11th at the More Than Golf Invitational (6-over 225) and tied for 16th at the Sun Belt Championship (6-over 222).
Before college, Chen had a strong junior golf career, claiming titles at the 2023 Buick National Junior and 2022 Super Lychee National.
She also stood out as the low amateur at the China LPGA Q-School and was runner-up at both the HSBC National Junior Championship and China Amateur Golf Classic.
Chen is the latest addition to a talented 2025-26 K-State signing class that includes Stalee Fields (Fort Worth, Texas), Casey Kang (Lanzhou, China), and Thitaree (Keen) Visavapattamawan (Bangkok, Thailand).
