The Wayne State College women’s golf team competed in the two-day Golden Bear Fall Brawl held Monday, Sept. 16 and Tuesday, Sept. 17 at the Troy Burne Golf Club in Hudson, Wisconsin.
The Wildcats placed third as a team, shooting less than 10 strokes out from first place. Senior Abby Brodersen placed third individually out of 67 players with a score of 155. Freshman Camryn Johnson tied for 11th shooting a 161.
“Overall, we were happy with our finish this week in Wisconsin,” Coach Nick Swaney said. “We got off to a poor start and were near the back of the pack through the first 9 holes of the tournament, but did a great job settling in and starting to make good numbers.”
Junior Saffire Sayre competed at the tournament and shot a 163 and tied for 13th place. Sayre said it was a difficult weekend for her.
“I have been in somewhat of a slump with golf the last few weeks,” Sayre said. “But I had two really fun groups to play with, so that made it enjoyable. We also had a great time as a team, which included a stop at the Mall of America on the way up.”
The tournament was not to the exact standard that Sayre was looking for, but she saw other good factors come out of it.
“We really bonded as a team during those four days so that was a positive,” Sayre said. “Abby and Camryn played well and we are all able to take what we struggled with and will work on it this week so it is better for next week.”
The Wildcats also concluded their third consecutive week of tournaments in Kearney at the MIAA Preview held at the Meadowlark Golf Club on Monday, Sept 23, and Tuesday, Sept. 24.
The Wildcats posted their lowest team total of the season, shooting 633 and placing 13th out of 15 teams. Johnson was the top performer for WSC, as she shot a 156 to tie for 40th individually. Sophomore Erica Lee was the other top 50 individual finisher for the Wildcats, as she shot a 159.
Having three tournaments in a row has been a challenge for the athletes.
“It has been super difficult, for these first two weeks, we left Saturday morning and got back late Tuesday night,” Sayre said. “Missing three weeks in a row of Monday and Tuesday classes is not easy academically.”
Coach Swaney said that the campus had great professors the athletes work closely with to stay caught up.
“The girls working closely with their professors, who have been very supportive of our athletic program,” Swaney said. “The players try to stay caught up by working on homework on the road as much as they can in our downtime.”
The Wildcats will close the fall season by competing at Hastings, Nebraska October 4-5, and Larchwood, Iowa October 14-15.
