Last week, the women’s golf team finished the fall season at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown in Nevada at 10th place.
“I am pleased with how we played the final round,” said head coach Lindsay Kuhle. “Shooting 7-over [par] in the wind and moving up six places was a great note to finish on for this fall season. I was really proud of freshman, Mariell Bruun, shooting 71 in the first round and Rachael Watton shooting 71 in the final round as well.”
With the start of the official spring season less than three months away, the team of six is already preparing to improve their game by focusing in on critical short game skills.
“We strike the ball really well and consistently and I believe to continue to shoot lower scores, we need to improve our short game up-and-down percentage and have fewer putts per round,” said Kuhle.
The 2009 season was the last year the Pioneers made a NCAA National Championship finish, but head coach Lindsay Kuhle has high expectations for the team and for the spring.
“Our biggest goal as a team is to continue to improve in each tournament and to practice hard to prepare for every tournament and for the post-season. I think we have a great chance to win a tournament in the spring.”
Along with the big expectations of the team comes a schedule with even bigger names.
“We are playing a very difficult schedule at Stanford, Tulane, LSU and Georgia, and I am really excited to see how we will play against some of the best teams in the nation. We are a very hard-working team with lofty goals and I feel that we will improve our short game, putting and lower our team’s stroke average in the spring because of our work ethic and love for the game,” said Kuhle.
Senior Tonje Daffinrud, from Tonsberg, Norway, and junior Rachael Watton, from Edinburgh, Scotland, were both selected to represent their home countries in the World Class Amateur Golf Championship in Trinity, Texas this past weekend. The championship features the top amateur women’s golfers in the world, with 72 holes being played over four days.
“These two players worked hard and played well this summer, and this is very well deserved,” Kuhle said. “Daffinrud and Watton are great players and will represent their countries well and this will be a great experience for them to play against other top players in the world.”
In the four tournaments the Pioneers played this fall, every player shot par or better for at least one round.
“I am really happy with how our team competed in every round this fall,” Kuhle said. “We played in some difficult conditions from wind, cold temperatures and rain. Daffinrud played great, and is currently 29th in the nation individually on Golfstat[.com]. Bruun played great for us this fall as well as our other four players. I think we have depth on this team and it was very apparent at the Texas tournament when all six players shot 78 or better in all three rounds.”
