The fortunes of golfer Elizabeth Burden and the rest of the Northwestern women’s golf team couldn’t have been more different over the past few days.
While Burden finished with third individually, the Wildcats showed all the rust that one would expect after a three-month layoff, finishing 13th out of 15 teams at the Central District Invitational in Parrish, Fla.
“Considering it was our first tournament, you don’t expect yourself to play that well,” sophomore Ina Kim said. “But at the same time, we want to be able to overcome that and come out strong, which we were unable to do.
“But for the first tournament, it wasn’t as bad as it looked.”
The Cats shot a combined 83-over par, 38 shots behind first-place Ohio State.
A few individuals, such as Burden, Kim and junior Lauren Grzebien, offered a bright contrast to NU’s gloomy tournament.
Burden shot 7-over — good for a four-way tie for third. The senior finished five shots back of the tournament winner, Ohio State’s Kristen White.
Burden started with a 6-over first round before rebounding with rounds of even par and 1-over.
“My drives were a little straighter in the second two rounds and I made a few more putts,” she said. “It didn’t feel too different. I was just getting used to playing outside.”
Kim, a native of Encino, Calif., was a model of consistency. She shot three 4-over rounds to finish in a four-way tie for 12th.
“Nothing was great, but I was able to make ups and downs this weekend,” she said. “I felt like I was playing a lot worse. Sometimes you have those rounds when you feel like you’re going to shoot 85, but you end up shooting 75.”
Grzebien bookended two bad rounds around a gem. She shot a 1-over 73 in her second round.
Despite being able to enjoy warmer temperatures, the two-day tournament didn’t offer an ounce of relaxation. The golfers woke up at 5:30 a.m. and didn’t return to their hotel rooms until 9:30 p.m., Kim said.
“We got out before the sun came up and left the course after the sun went down,” she said.
“A lot of us have midterms and stuff we’re worried about — it’s safe to say we’re the only team that studies on the road,” she said. “But we definitely did not study as much as we needed.”
