The BG women’s golf team made its third consecutive spring venture to Arizona last week and returned to Northwest Ohio with an 18th place finish in the Rio Verde Invitational.
The Falcons finished the 54-hole tournament on March 7 with a cumulative score of 998 (+146), the highest in the 18-team field.
Although the tangible result may not be quite what the Falcons had in mind, there were, according to coach Stephanie Young, many positives to be taken from the experience.
“I think this was a very positive overall experience for us,” said Young. “It gave us a chance to compete against some excellent teams on a terrific golf course.”
No doubt, the biggest highlight of the week for the Falcons was the continued solid play of freshman Susy Grunden, who gave every indication that her fine fall semester was no fluke.
Grunden made five birdies on day one on her way to opening round 74, which put her in a tie for sixth at day’s end.
“In the first round I hit the ball tremendously well,” Grunden said. “Most of my shots were winding up pretty close. I made a double bogey on the 17th which derailed me a bit, but overall I played really well.”
Although a balky putter would doom her to rounds of 80 and 81 over the final two days, Grunden’s three-day total of 235 (+22) still merited a tie for 37th in the field of 96, making her the highest placing Falcon by a long shot.
“I thought Susy had great control with her swing all three days,” Young said. “She just had a couple of bad holes here and there that really did her in.”
Among the other Falcon competitors, Lauren Glew finished in a tie for 86th with a score of 251, Hannah Lambert shot 255 to come in 90th, Marisa Glew came in with a 261 for 93rd, and Paula DiFrancesco came in 96th with a three-day total of 265.
The Falcons will tee it up again in three weeks at the Longaberger Spring Cup Challenge in Nashport, Ohio, and Young believes the time off will be put to good use.
“This tournament gave us a good dose of competitive experience,” Young said. “We now have a much clearer idea of the steps we need to take to get better. I definitely think we should have performed better, but we have a lot of season left to look forward to.”