The Iowa women’s golf team is no stranger to being hungry out on the green, and they’re ready to face the rest of the fall season with new faces.

The Hawkeyes added four freshmen to their roster for the 2019-20 season, the most newcomers in a single season since 2014.

Austria native Lea Zeitler is one of the four Hawkeye rookies on the roster and has already shown growth this fall. In Zeitler’s debut last weekend at the East-West Match Play Tournament, she finished top five in stroke-play.

“To add a player like Lea to our already strong roster this year makes this team special,” said head coach Megan Menzel. “I can tell the freshmen are already loving Iowa City and proud to be a student-athlete at Iowa. There’s always a few bumps in the road with tests and midterms right now, but they’re doing just fine.”

Competing at the college level for the first time can be nerve racking for any athlete, but Zeitler focused and posted a solid performance.

“I was nervous for my first tournament,” Zeitler said. “But the course was in great shape, and I played shot by shot that weekend.”

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Performing well out on the course for the Hawkeyes is something Zeitler imagined ever since she started the recruiting process.

Zeitler chose Iowa in part for the culture the program offered, and how it could set her up for success.

“I felt welcome right from the beginning, even at my official visit,” Zeitler said. “This team works really well together, and the coaches support you in every way and get the best out of us.” 

Like any team, Iowa has its strengths and their weaknesses, and the Hawkeyes saw the brink of that last weekend. The team wound up sixth overall with carding 595 (+19) in stroke-play and 1-4 in match-play against Indiana.

“The last 4 holes for us in the first round were the most disappointing for us,” Menzel said. “That was what really took us out of the championship match. But it was good to see them rally back and play well going forward. Seeing them take round-for-round how they did [during match-play], shows what kind of team this is. It was encouraging.”

The young Hawkeyes are ready to learn and Menzel is ready to see the team compete for line-up spots for their next competition, the Magnolia Invitation, hosted by Mississippi State on Oct. 13. 

“We haven’t played down there in five or six years now,” Menzel said. “But I know it’s a great golf course. It’ll [the course] set up really well for this team. We’ve got a really good practice plan in place until then, focus on our short game, and qualify this next weekend to get our line-up together.”

The more times this young Hawkeye team can get out on the course, the better.

Each round presents an opportunity for improvement and for Menzel to see this talented group of Iowa golfers compete.

“We’re really excited for what’s to come this season,” Menzel said. “We have a group that’s young, hungry, eager to learn. We’re [coaches] most excited about the upsides of this group.”