The UW-Eau Claire women’s golf team started the spring season on a high note with a first-place win at the Central College Invitational in Iowa last weekend. The Blugolds, who had two teams competing, dominated to take the top two spots in team competition.
At the first scored competition of the semester, the first team took home the top spot with a stroke count of 647. The second, or Gold team, placed second with 685 strokes. Third and fourth place went to Central and Simpson College’s with 726 and 759 strokes, respectively.
Individually, the Blugolds swept the top four spots. Freshman Catherine Wagner tied for first with sophomore Katie Maurer. Sophomores Emily Swift and Lauren Gault placed third and fourth in the invitational. The other six Blugold competitors all finished within the top 12.
Head coach John Means said conditions provided a perfect weekend for golf. Even though the girls won, there were still a few challenges they had to overcome, he said.
“I think we had some first tournament jitters but overall the girls played well as a team,” he said.
For all teams, the best individual score was 15 strokes above par while the highest score for the weekend was 97 strokes above par. Means said these high stroke counts proves the course itself was a challenge.
“It was a very difficult golf course and I know the numbers look high,” he said. “But I think if the weather would have been bad at all the scores would be even higher because of how hard it was.”
Although Means said the course was a major difficulty, the invitational was more of a competition between teammates than with the other schools.
“The main challenge we faced was that there wasn’t any competition,” he said. “We started to lose focus but Katie Maurer and Catherine Wagner ended up tying for first and Emily Swift played extremely well overall.”
Swift, who shot 80-82 for the weekend, said she had a few mental errors to get over but felt the lack of competition from the other teams proved to be a hindrance to her game.
“It was a tough course and I played pretty well even though I had a few blow-up holes,” she said. “But the competition (with the other team) just wasn’t good and it became more of a competition with our own team. We had to make the best of it.”
Swift said she looks forward to the upcoming invitational at St. Thomas next weekend and hopes for a better challenge.
“I’m excited to get back to the course,” she said. “I played it before and I liked it and hopefully we’ll have some better competition with the other teams.”
Wagner, who shot 83-76, said she feels she did well and the ladies are now practicing some techniques to better prepare them for the next invitational.
“It wasn’t a big tournament and I feel I did well, I’ve been hitting pretty good,” she said. “But we’re working on putting and chipping and I’m just looking forward to next weekend.”
