After a five-month furlough, the women's golf team returned to action Sunday for its spring season and earned 11th place out of 14 teams at the Low Country Intercollegiate in South Carolina. The tournament was the team's first since Oct. 25, when they earned second place at the Sacred Heart Invitational.
"The first tournament of the spring is always a little bit rough," said Head Coach Danielle Griffiths. "We definitely needed to get the rust off and go play in some warmer weather."
Though Griffiths said she encourages her team to remain active over the break, her players said hitting balls and playing practice rounds do not compare to the feel of a college tournament.
"All of us worked hard over the winter, but I think playing in a competitive setting is always different than practicing," Megan Tuohy '12 said. "The first tournament gives us the opportunity to get settled back into the competitive season."
Tuohy's two-day score of 167 (86-81) ranked her second on the team behind Susan Restrepo '11, who led the Bears by carding a 166 (87-79) and earning 33rd place individually. The team's score of 675 (346-329) earned them 11th place, a slightly disappointing finish after cracking the top 10 in every tournament last fall.
"I think all of us left thinking we could have done better, but I think that's the way golf is," Tuohy said. "I don't think anyone was extremely pleased with the way we finished, but we didn't leave discouraged."
For Griffiths, the reason for the team's substandard finish was clear.
"It's very obvious that we are going to focus on short game," she said. "We played on a golf course that was in great shape and the greens were very, very small, and that makes it even more evident that getting the ball up and down, which means putting and chipping, is what we are going to focus on."
"In the fall, we are chipping and putting more, so you definitely have a lot more feel around the greens," Tuohy said. "That is something we have to work on as we get back for the spring."
The team continues to prepare for the Ivy League Championship at the end of April by traveling to California March 28-29 to compete at California State University at Monterey Bay. Griffiths said she is using the trip as an opportunity to bring players closer together by having them stay in a house and rely on one another to cook and clean.
"Living together in the house will definitely help with team bonding," Tuohy said. "Our team is very close in general. We are a small team, and we spend a lot of time together, so it will be fun to be in a house together rather than being split up in hotel rooms."
