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Thirteen days removed from a sixth place finish in the Central District Invitational, the LSU women’s golf team will swing back into action Monday in the UCF Challenge in Orlando, Fla.
“[UCF Challenge] is a first year event,” LSU coach Karen Bahnsen said. “[UCF] has a new coach this year, Emily Klein, [who] actually played on the LPGA tour last year. She started the tournament and really wanted to start it top-notch from the get-go.”
Junior Rebecca Kuhn led the team with a sixth-place finish out of 73 participants and a score of 222 (+6).
“I just all around did not really make any mistakes,” Kuhn said. “Only things were the short putts I missed. I missed a lot putts the first couple of days.”
The remaining four starters include sophomore Caroline Martens, senior Melissa Eaton, junior Kimberly Meck, and junior Alexis Rather.
Martens and Meck tied for 36th with a score of 231 (+16), Eaton finished 42nd with a score of 232 (+16), and Rather finished 53rd with a score of 236 (+20).
“I think I did OK,” Martens said. “It was not to my potential, but it was my first tournament back since my [lower back herniation] injury [at the end of the fall season]. My driving was very accurate, but I was not hitting my irons very well.”
Despite the team’s high final ranking at the Central District Invitational, Bahnsen said the team was capable of a higher finish.
“[This team] was right in position to finish a little higher,” Bahnsen said. “The last three holes we just did not quite finish as strong as we would have liked. That really makes a difference because that’s the third time this year we have lost a couple positions in the field because a couple critical bogeys at the end.”
After two rounds in the Central District Invitational, LSU was in fourth place, behind University of Texas by one stroke. In the third round, after 15 holes, LSU was in fifth place, behind Baylor University by two strokes.
Correcting the team’s late tournament struggles must be mended as the Lady Tigers will be competing against eight of the Top 25 teams in the nation.
Some of the toughest competition will include No. 1 University of Georgia, No. 3 Pepperdine University, and No. 4 Duke University.
“[Your competition] is nothing you think about when you are playing,” Kuhn said. “[The team] knows if we play well, [LSU] will be beating some of the best teams in the country.”
In preparation for the UCF Challenge, players have been using specific golf equipment in fixing their weaknesses. In particular, Martens has been using the team’s target practice instruments as well as materials that will help her iron play.
“I did not hit the ball well so I have just [been] working on technical stuff,” Martens said. “I used equipment to correct my [swinging] errors. [Also,] there is a filming center so [players] can film our swing and see our errors. We can see what you are doing and correct it.”
Bahnsen said the biggest thing the team works on as a whole is the short game routine. She said the short game is area of play where games are won.
—–Contact Chris Ballay at [email protected]