After a three-week break, the Iowa women’s golf team is scheduled to travel to Columbus, Ohio, to play in the Lady Buckeye Invitational on Saturday and April 19.

This will be the last tournament that the team will play in before the Big Ten Championship on April 24-26. 

Senior Shelby Phillips is excited about competing on the Scarlet Course at Ohio State after having a rough past two years playing in the tournament. 

Phillips had to take a 40 for a single hole after signing her score card incorrectly her sophomore year, and she had a poor round last year when she was in a slump. 

“I want to beat the course,” Phillips said. “I’m not playing against anyone else; it’s going to be for me this weekend. I just want to be able to prove to myself that I can play Scarlet.”

She is ready to start playing well again after a period of not playing up to her expectations.   

“I’m actually just starting to feel that I can play again for the first time in a year,” she said.  “So I’m just more excited to get out there and compete.”

The difficulty of the course and course conditions usually are a factor in this tournament. 

Because it’s spring, the conditions are usually cold and windy, which the team has been preparing for in these past three weeks. 

“It’s pretty long; there are a lot of bunkers, and it’s going to be very windy, that’s what were told to expect,” freshman Jessica Ip said. “So we’ve been working on our long game, hitting hybrids, long irons, and hitting out of fairway bunkers.” 

This will be Ip’s first time playing Scarlet and she feels good about her game, working on her short game and putting with the long game in her preparation for this weekend’s tournament. 

With the Big Tens looming next week, this tournament will be good practice in a pressured situation. 

“This course demands you to be disciplined, to have a good game plan, and to stay patient,” head coach Megan Menzel said.  “So I’m excited to see where we’re at. Next week, we head into the Big Tens, so hopefully, we can show that we’re ready, and if we need to make a few adjustments, we will and get after it.”