By Jess Westendorf
The Iowa women’s golf team will compete in the Greenville Regional Preview in North Carolina at Ironwood Golf Course today and Tuesday.
First and second rounds will be held today, with tee times starting at 8:30 a.m. The final round of the tournament will start at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The Hawkeyes will be joined by 17 teams at the tournament, including East Carolina University, the host. This is the first time the Iowa women’s golf team will participate in the Greenville Regional Preview.
The tournament will be played at The Ironwood Golf Course designed by golf professional and architect Lee Trevino. During Trevino’s golf career he won 29 PGA events, including six majors.
The Ironwood Golf Course is a par 72 course, stretching 6,634 yards.
Freshman Sophie Liu will be in the No. 1 spot for Iowa, followed by junior Morgan Kukla in the No. 2 position. Junior Jessica Ip, senior Jessie Sindlinger, and sophomore Shawn Rennegarbe will make up the rest of the Hawkeye lineup.
It has been a week and a half since the Hawkeyes competed in their last tournament, the Golfweek Conference Challenge. The team placed 14th overall in Vail, Colorado, ending with a final score of 915.
During the break between last tournament and this tournament, the Hawkeyes focused primarily on its short game and putting — they felt that was where they struggled the most in previous tournaments.
Short drills became the team’s best friend Oct. 11 and 13, the team’s main practice days. Head coach Megan Menzel set up small drills around the putting greens and turned the practices into team competitions.
“We have been doing a lot of short game and putting,” said senior Jessie Sindlinger. “Last tournament, we felt like that is where we lost a lot of strokes, as well as easy up and downs.”
The team wanted to focus on the little things going into the next tournament. The Hawkeyes used their long break to play at different golf courses, including the Cedar Rapids Country Club, as well as playing a few qualifying rounds.
“This last week and a half we have been focusing on the little things like making 3-footers, 4-footers, and 5-footers and easy up and downs to help get our confidence back up,” Kukla said. “Personally, I am looking forward to getting back into the lineup for this tournament.”
Overall, the Hawkeyes believe they had a productive break; they worked on getting together and having good team conversations focusing on what they wanted to work on before the Greenville Regional.
“I think we have a great energy right now,” Menzel said. “I think we have put in a lot of hard work, and the team is hungry to get back out there and show that we are a better team than how we have been playing. We are excited to go out and try to get the win.”
