Northwestern kicked off its fall season this past weekend with a solid if unspectacular sixth-place finish in the Mary Fossum Invitational.
With a three-day score of 61-over 925, NU finished 34 strokes behind tournament co-champions Kent State and host Michigan State.
Senior Jennifer Hong was the Wildcats’ highest-placing individual golfer, tying for 20th with a 15-over 231 after firing rounds of 78-77-76.
In close pursuit were sophomores Kelsey Lindenschmidt (T-22) and Innapha Tantanavivat (T-26) and freshman Alexandra Lederhausen (T-32), who finished one, two and three strokes behind Hong, respectively.
It was the team’s first tournament under new coach Emily Fletcher, who has over 20 years of experience teaching golf but has never led a college team. She replaces longtime coach Chris Regenberg, who retired last May after guiding the program during its first 16 years.
One of Fletcher’s primary objectives is to stress the importance of exerting more effort than the opposition.
“We’re just trying to instill a culture of hard work and dedication in our players,” Fletcher said. “We can’t just do what everyone else is doing.”
The players are starting to buy into their new coach’s philosophy.
“(Fletcher) is really great with handling us,” Lederhausen said. “She just keeps encouraging us to work really hard.”
Fletcher acknowledged that the team is facing a more challenging schedule than it did a year ago, which should provide the Cats with a better test of their abilities. She said that looks forward to watching her team compete with some of the nation’s toughest teams.
One bright spot in the Cats’ season-opening performance was their consistency. Hong, Lindenschmidt and Lederhausen all carded 76s on Sunday, and just three strokes separated the team’s top four golfers.
Fletcher was also encouraged by the play of her two freshmen: Kylie Fuller and an admittedly “very nervous” Lederhausen.
“Overall I was very pleased with their performance,” Fletcher said. “Alex played well in the second and third rounds. She really dug in for us.”
Fletcher was also impressed by the 3-over 75 that Fuller shot Saturday afternoon, helping the Cats move up from ninth into a tie for sixth. Her second-round score matched the team’s low round of the tournament.
NU began last fall with a comparable result, finishing fifth at the Lady Northern tournament. After much improvement during the season, the team ended 2007 with a win at the Challenge at Wolfdancer in Austin, Texas.
For similar progress to take place over the next few months, one thing Fletcher emphasized was the need to shoot lower scores on the par 5s.
“At the very least we need to make pars, and hopefully throw in a few birdies,” she said.
The team does not play again until it hosts the Windy City Collegiate Championships in two weeks at nearby Evanston Golf Club.
