By Jess Westendorf
Going into the last tournament of the season, the women’s golf Hawkeyes feel confident and positive.
Last week, the Hawkeyes traveled to Greenville, North Carolina, for the Greenville Regional Preview. The team placed 10th out of 16 teams.Freshman Sophie Liu took charge for the Hawkeyes and tied for 12th place. She made par on 14 holes and added two birdies in the third round to climb 13 spots on the leaderboard.
Going into this week of practice Liu felt confident in her game and the way she has played this fall. She has shone for the Hawkeyes, making top finishes at two of the three tournaments played so far this fall. She made her best finish at the Greenville Regional.
“I think it’s a variety of everything. I had some bad rounds but I also had some good rounds as well, so it is kind of a mix,” she said. “Off-season will be a lot time to prepare and get ready for the spring season, which I think is more of an intense schedule. We will definitely be more prepared going into the bigger tournaments.”
One thing the Hawkeyes were pleased with after their last tournament was their mental game.
Head coach Megan Menzel was excited and feeling positive with the way her team carried themselves and how they fought through the up and downs of the tournament.
“The biggest thing we improved on was our body language and our attitude while on the golf course,” she said. “It was great to see us persevere on the golf course despite the challenging conditions, really good to see.”
The team agreed that the course they played on in North Carolina was rough and different from what they have been used to. The Ironwood Golf Course stretches 6,634 yards, revealing rolling wooded terrain and scenic vistas of the Tar River.
The greens and tee shots seemed to give the team the most trouble. This week during practice, the Hawkeyes worked on numerous drills to help lift and get the team ready for their next tournament, the Landfall Tradition in Wilmington, North Carolina.
“It was tough but a good learning experience,” said sophomore Shawn Rennegarbe. “The course was Bermuda, and we don’t get to play on that very often, and we learned something for the next tournament, so we will be ready for it.”
The biggest thing the Hawkeyes improved on after this past tournament was their confidence. They reconnected with each other on the golf course, helping the golfers have confidence within each other.
“We gained a lot of confidence in each other, and how we connected on the golf course was really good,” said senior and team captain Jessie Sindlinger.
“We are super excited,” said Menzel. “We see this as a huge opportunity, and we will go into this event good to compete against ranked teams. This is an awesome chance to go in as the underdogs and see what we can do.”
