For the BG women’s golf team, a whole season’s worth of hard work has been building up to this weekend. The Falcons are currently in Fishers, Ind. where they will tee-it-up at 8 a.m. this morning in the annual Mid-American Conference Championships.
“144 days of competition and practice all lead up to this,” said coach Stephanie Young. “This weekend is what we work all year in preparation for. There has definitely been an elevated intensity level in practice.”
For Hannah Lambert, the lone Bowling Green senior, this tournament offers one last crack at collegiate golf.
“I don’t plan to leave anything on the table this week,” said Lambert. “This is my last shot so I’m going to let it all hang out and see what happens.”
The entire MAC conference will be in the field this week at Hawthorns golf and Country Club, a scenic Par 72-layout. BG arrived earlier this week riding a wave of momentum from their last two outings. That good feeling appeared to carry over to Thursday’s practice round where according to Young; the Falcons were hitting the ball spot-on.
“We played the course back in the fall for the MAC Preview, and it played very long due to the cool, wet conditions,” Young said. “Right now, however, things have dried out and the fairways are rolling very well, which definitely helps out.”
With rain expected for the weekend, course conditions could easily deteriorate again, but Young is confident that nothing will phase her group on this stage.
“Thursday was about as perfect a day as there could have been for golf,” Young said. “Hopefully the course holds up when it’s actually time to play, but if it doesn’t then I am sure that they girls won’t let it bother them. I have never felt better about a team’s mental toughness than this year.”
The Falcon’s starting lineup this week features and interesting mix of youth and experience, with upper-classmen Hannah Lambert, Lauren Glew, and Marisa Glew, being joined by freshman Susy Grunden and Amy Ruthenberg. That group will attempt to deliver the Falcons their first-ever top-five finish in the MAC Championship.
“Finishing in the top half of the field is definitely our goal,” Young said. “No team here has ever done that before, but I think this is the best starting five we have ever had. I think it is within our reach.”
