This weekend marks one of the last times Alex Lederhausen will step onto the green representing Northwestern. In her fourth and final season, the senior from Hinsdale, Ill., is ready to make her final impact memorable.
“This is my last opportunity to play really well at Big Tens, and it’s both exciting and sentimental,” she said.
Lederhausen is one of the five Wildcats golfers traveling to French Lick, Ind., this weekend in search of the perfect ending to their 2011-2012 season: the program’s first-ever Big Ten Championships title.
“The team is capable of winning it,” coach Emily Fletcher said. “In the least, a top-three finish is reasonable.”
The 12-team field will include ranked foes No. 16 Ohio State, No. 25 Michigan State and No. 34 Purdue. The Cats are currently ranked No. 43 on Golfstat.com.
Last year’s squad earned third-place honors with the best Big Ten Championships performance in school history, a 35-over 1,187. Junior Lauren Weaver, Lederhausen and sophomore Devon Brown boosted the squad to the head of the leaderboard with top-10 performances, taking second, third and eight places, respectively.
All three golfers return to this year’s competition hungry for similar success. They are joined by freshmen Hana Lee and Brittany Mai, both of whom have started consistently for the Cats all season.
Lee sits on the opposite end of the spectrum from Lederhausen in her first taste of the championship competition. Early run-throughs of the course Thursday were difficult, Lee said, but the team isn’t intimidated.
“Everyone will be under the same conditions,” she said. “We just have to stay patient and play good golf.”
The Donald Ross Course at the French Lick Resort will be challenging for the Cats, with a notably different green speed than they are used to. Fletcher spent the week preparing her team for the slower conditions in hopes that the team can approach the weekend’s challenge with confidence.
“We feel like we really have a good feel for how we’re going to play the golf course,” she said. “We’re definitely as prepared as any team in the Big Ten.”
The focus all year has been perfecting the short game, and this will be the Cats’ opportunity to show all they have learned.
Fletcher said she believes the team is well prepared to fight to the top, especially her only senior.
“I want her to trust in (Lederhausen’s) preparation,” she said. “She has every reason to have confidence going into this event.”
Lederhausen knows the emotions with ending her career are bound to surface this weekend, but wants to focus her energy on the best possible performance.
“For me, one shot at a time is really big,” she said. “I just want to not live in the past, really stay in the present and do my thing. I know I can play well, it’s just a matter of actually doing it.”
Lederhausen said the team chemistry this year is the strongest it has been in her career. Even though leaving will be even more challenging, she said she hopes the group of girls can support each other on the green.
Each NU golfer has the same goal for the weekend and it is something Fletcher emphasizes on a regular basis.
“Make every shot count,” Lederhausen said, “because it does.”
