Category: Golf

Gabriella DeRosa

Contributing Writer

The women’s golf team traveled to Piscataway, N.J. to take on 19 other teams at the Rutgers Invitational on Oct. 14-15. The Bison ended day one in third place, but throughout the tournament they moved down to 10th place, with a total team score of 329.

The Bison did well on day one, shooting four scores in the 70s, but no one was able to break 80 on day two. 

“It was a great feeling going into the final day sharing a tie for the lead,” Bridget Wilcox ’14 said. “The final round was tough … I just tried to stay with my game and play against par. [It was a] disappointing finish but I learned a lot from the experience.”

Wilcox had a share of the individual lead after the first round with a 1-over-73 and ended with an 81 in round two. 

The Bison are preparing for their last event of the fall on Oct. 28-29 at the Palmetto Intercollegiate at Kiawah Island, S.C.

“We have a new strategy going into the next tournament and the team is amped,” Wilcox said.

Claudia Silvers

Staff Writer

Women’s golf takes 13th in Nittany Lion Invitational

The women’s golf team headed to State College, Pa. to represent the Bison at the Nittany Lion Invitational last weekend and ended with a 319 third-round team total, putting them in 13th place.

Bridget Wilcox ’14 finished in the top-20 individually, posting rounds of 74-75-77. Her performance concluded four successful years at this tournament. Of her 10 career rounds on this particular course, Wilcox shot a 77.4 average, including her school-record of 69 in 2010. Also performing well was Ellie McGuire ’17, who posted 78-78-83, and Emily Timmons ’15, who posted 80-84-78.

“Ellie McGuire has had a really good start to the season for her first year,” Timmons said. “It was really nice to be able to bring the whole team to the tournament; we were able to bring three extra players to compete individually while we usually only have five players travel. This gave our freshmen really good experience playing in competitive tournaments.”

The other first-years were successful as well. In the last round of the tournament, Callie Nelson ’17 scored a career-best 80, while Emily Larson ’17 and Nicole Mischler ’17 both finished with 85.

Kasha Scott ’14, Lauren Bernard ’14, and Meghan Garanich ’16 scored 81, 83, and 89 respectively in the last round of the tournament.

“Penn State is always a very challenging golf course, so our scores were not quite as low as we had hoped for last weekend,” Timmons said. 

Despite the challenge, the good competition and courses will prepare the Bison for their next tournament, the Rutgers Invitational, on Oct. 14-15.

Claudia Silvers

Contributing Writer

The women’s golf team placed sixth in its season-opening Bucknell Invitational from Sept. 7-8. They proved victorious over the three other Patriot League teams that attended.

The Bison previously won this Invitational in 2010 and 2011, but William & Mary stole the title this time.

“Beating out the other Patriot League schools, including Boston University and Lehigh, was exciting,” Kasha Scott ’14 said.

“Defeating the other league teams in the field showed that we are the team to beat in the Patriot League,” Lauren Bernard ’14 said.

Scott and Bernard, along with Bridget Wilcox ’14, scored in the 70s on the final day of the Invitational. Bernard achieved the Bison’s top score for the tournament, with a 54-hole total of 233, placing her 14th overall.

Emily Timmons ’15 shot 81 and Emily Larson ’17 shot 83 in her debut, helping the Bison earn team totals of 310 and 323 on Sept. 7.

The Bison ended with a 946 composite, nine strokes below defending champion Boston University. Lehigh, last year’s Patriot League Champion, placed ninth with 976 and Navy placed 16th with 1,112. Head Coach Kevin Jamieson was “pleased to see all of student-athletes working hard over a long weekend.”

The Invitational proved to be a strong start for the team, showing the four first-year players what college-level competition is like.

“With most of the players doing internships over the summer, I thought we came out pretty rusty mentally,” Jamieson said. “With that said, I think we had a heck of a finish in a tough field,”

Jamieson and his players look forward to the Yale Intercollegiate Tournament in one week, hoping that they can, as Jamieson said, “knock off some of the rust” during the allotted preparation time.

“There will be good competition, and it is a great golf course,” Scott said in regards to the tournament at Yale. 

“Everyone will take the next week and a half now to focus on the areas that we struggled in during the Bucknell Invitational to prepare for our next tournament at Yale,” Bernard said. 

After a successful fall-opener, the Bison women’s golf team looks ahead to the Yale Intercollegiate that takes place Sept. 20-22.

“I believe that our team will continue to work very hard and greatly improve while building team confidence on the way,” Bernard said.

Emily Evancho

Writer

The women’s golf team swung into season last weekend at the Edwin Watts Kiawah Classic in South Carolina, finishing with a collective score of 335 on March 5. Jen Lee ’16 led the team, beginning the weekend with a 79 and finishing with the Orange and Blue’s lowest score at 81.

“This weekend was rough for us, [but] considering it was our first time on grass for the season, I think we did fairly well. I think we held our own,” Lee said.

Emily Timmons ’15 and Lee carried the Bison on the first round of the Kiawah Classic. Lee jumpstarted the Bison’s performance with a par-birdie start, ending with a score of 79. Timmons followed in Lee’s path, posting 1-under par for the final five holes, giving her an end score of 80.

Bridget Wilcox ’14 pulled ahead on March 4 by shooting one birdie and 11 pars, carding a 78. Kasha Scott ’14 posted a final score of 80, helping Wilcox to aid the Bison’s concluding score of 329 in the second round.

The Bison finished the Classic with a team score of 335 on March 5. Lee struggled in the middle of her round, but ended strongly with the Bison’s lowest score of 81. Scott and Wilcox both carded 84’s, joining Lee in posting the team’s best scores for the day. They were closely followed by Timmons’ final score of 86.

“We had some stellar rounds posted by both Jen Lee and Emily Timmons which was really exciting. Even though we didn’t perform our best this weekend, we definitely are working our way towards posting up some great scores. I bet we are going to go low in Las Vegas next week,” Scott said.

The women’s golf team will return to action on March 14 for the Second Annual Bison Challenge at Paiute in Las Vegas.

Alex Wagner

Sports Editor

On Oct. 15 and 16, the women’s golf team earned a ninth place finish at the Mid-America Conference Preview tournament in Nashport, Ohio behind a career-best performance from Jen Lee ’16.

Lee shot a 74 on Monday, just two above par, and an 83 on Tuesday to tie for 13th place in individual scores and to become the Orange and Blue’s top performer.

Unfortunately, her strong individual performance did not translate to a top spot for the Bison, who finished in ninth place out of 15 teams with rounds of 320 and 325.

Bridget Wilcox ’14 also performed well, shooting rounds of 77 and 82 for a 159 total, earning her a tie for 20th place, just two strokes behind Lee. Lauren Bernard ’14 finished in a tie for 46th with a 164, Kasha Scott ’14 finished in a tie for 57th with a 166 and Emily Timmons ’15 finished in a tie for 72nd with 171 strokes.

Ball State won the tournament with a team score of 621, followed by Bowling Green State with 624 and Eastern Michigan with 625.

The last event this fall for the Orange and Blue will be the Palmetto Invitational at Kiawah Island, S.C. on Oct. 28-29.

Katherine Harris
Writer

The women’s golf team performed strongly at the Nittany Lion Invitational last weekend, getting better each day with scores of 326, 316, and 311 in the three rounds for a 16th place finish out of a very competitive field.

“The team got off to a rough start this weekend, but we progressively got better as the tournament went on. We are a very young team and still have a lot to learn,” Bridget Wilcox ’14 said. “I was happy to have another consistent tournament but I still have room to improve and will be working hard this week and next to gear up for the MAC Preview.”

The Bison started off the three day tournament with a team score of 326 last Friday. The format for the tournament had six girls play and the top four scores count on each day. Wilcox and Meghan Garanich ’16 led the team with a 79 and an 80, respectively. The counted scores for the day were rounded out by Lauren Bernard ’14 with an 83 and Lexi Klein ’15 with an 84.

Saturday went well for the Orange and Blue as the team improved their overall score, moving them into 15th place in the tournament. Kasha Scott ’14 led the team on the day with one of only seven sub-par rounds out of 103 players with her 1-under-par 71. Anchoring the rest of the team’s scores were Wilcox with her second straight 79, Bernard with an 81 and Jen Lee ’16 with an 85.

“I was very excited with the way I played on Saturday; it was really fun to be hitting the ball well, but I need to work on my consistency. I’m excited to see what our next tournament in Ohio holds for us, as I think the team has the potential of going really low,” Scott said.

The Bison finished out the tournament strong by improving their score again to 311 on Sunday, placing them in 16th place with a total score of 953 for the weekend. Bernard finished her tournament strong with a 73 and Wilcox stayed consistent with a 78. Garanich and Lee rounded out the scores for the team with an 80 and 81, respectively.

The team will now prepare for their next tournament, the MAC Preview, on Oct. 15 and 16 in Ohio.

Lauren Boone

Contributing Writer

The women’s golf team traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich. last weekend to compete in the University of Michigan’s Wolverine Invitational, where it struggled in unfavorable weather conditions. In addition, the 54-hole competition was held on one of the toughest courses on which the Bison will compete this year. The lineup consisted of Lauren Bernard ’14, Kasha Scott ’14, Bridget Wilcox ’14, Lexi Klein ’15 and Jen Lee ’16. 

The inclement weather caused the Bison to struggle early on. The Orange and Blue shot 340 in the first round and 328 in the second round. Their team score of 668 left the Bison in 12th place at the end of Saturday’s rounds.

Individually, Wilcox led the Orange and Blue with rounds of 79 and 81. She finished Saturday in 21st place. Scott shot a first round of 88 but was able to lower her score to 80 in the second round. Bernard performed better in her second round as well, improving from 86 to 81. Klein bettered her first round of 87 to a score of 86 in the second round, and Lee improved from 94 to 91.

Michigan finished Saturday in first with a 616 (308-308) over Florida International by one stroke.

In the individual rankings, FIU’s Meghan MacLaren finished in first on Saturday with a total score of 148, followed by Lauren Grogan of Michigan with a total of 149.

After Sunday’s round, the Bison scored a 336 for a final tournament score of 1004, and a 14th place finish. Scott led the Bison on Sunday, after shooting an 80. Wilcox posted an 83, leading to a Bison best 33rd place finish. Bernard shot an 86, followed by Klein with an 87.  Lee closed the tournament with a score of 93.

At the end of competition, Michigan and Florida International tied for first place with total scores of 930.

“The Wolverine Invitational was definitely a test of the team’s mental game and shot accuracy. It was freezing, it rained heavily and the course is probably the hardest we will encounter all year–at one point it even hailed!” Wilcox said. “Even with that said, we did not perform as well as we expected. This tournament was definitely a wake-up call and we will continue to work hard throughout the season to get to where we need to be for the Patriot League Championship in April.”

This weekend, the Bison will play at the Nittany Lion Invitational in State College.