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Golfers ready to compete in
'wide open' conference field
Release Date:
September 30, 2009
MONMOUTH, Ill. — With
the 54-hole Midwest Conference Women’s Golf Championships coming up
this Friday through Sunday at Aldeen Golf Course in Rockford, Ill.,
the Monmouth College team couldn’t have picked a better time to play
their best golf.
The Fighting Scots have shot their best four
rounds of the season in their last four meets, giving coach Molly
McNamara a reason for optimism.
“We’re playing as well as we have all year,” said
McNamara. “There are a number of teams who could win it. I really
feel like it’s a wide open field this year.”
McNamara should know a thing or two about wide
open fields. The coach was a senior on Monmouth’s only women’s golf
championship team in 2002 when the Scots won the meet by a mere nine
strokes. The Scots finished ahead of two MWC teams in a meet last
week – including six-time defending champion Illinois College.
“Illinois College doesn’t have the roster they had
a year ago,” reported McNamara. “A lot of conference schools are
playing well and have a shot. We consider ourselves to be one of
those contenders. Most schools will have a chance this year,
including us.”
The Scots may only lack experience, as senior
Lynsey Barnard has earned the roster’s lone all-conference
honors, and that was two years ago. Barnard has led the team in most
meets this season and junior Kristin Humphrey has come on
strong. Freshman Nicole Hurst fired a career-best round last
weekend while senior Kendra Catterton has made “huge”
improvements over her four years. The newest member of the mix –
junior Kayla Winbigler – is golfing competitively for the
first time, but has been steadily dropping her scores and also fired
a career-low last weekend.
“Everything is coming together for us,”
claimed McNamara. “Last year we started the season strong and then
fizzled out at conference. This year we’ve been looking ahead to the
big picture, trying to peak at the conference meet. We’ll have to be
mentally ready and understand we could be playing in cold and wet
conditions. Of course, it’s the same for everyone.”
In addition to the mental game, McNamara sees the
short game as the key to success at Aldeen. The tree-lined fairways
offer a little forgiveness for errant shots, but the players will
have to make their shots.
“I believe the team that shoots closest to 360 all
three days will win the title,” said McNamara. “You could really
just pull teams out of a hat. Somebody’s got to win it and it might
as well be us.”
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