The senior once again led her team, carding a 231 in the three-round event.
The women’s golf team was back in action this weekend, as they traveled to Penn State to compete in the Nittany Lion Invitational. Coming off a bye week, the Falcons were well rested and optimistic about the tournament. Coming into the bye week the Falcons seemed to be running on all cylinders, with a win in their last tournament, the Lady Falcon Invitational. The team hoped to get right back on track in this weekend’s tournament. The Nittany Lion Invitational consisted of three rounds and was held on Saturday and Sunday at the Blue Course in State College, Pa.
The Falcons, however, seemed to struggle to get on track this weekend. With a disappointing first-round finish of 332, the Falcons found themselves far off the pace. The team had also left themselves much work to do if they were to get back in contention for the tournament. The opening round left the Falcons in thirteenth position in the 15-team tournament.
“I think we were really tense coming out of the gate on Saturday. It took us some time to adjust to the course and the windy conditions in the first round.” Falcon senior Shelly Binzel said.
The second round, however, would be different. With strokes to make up, the Falcons came out shooting in the second round carding a 311. This 21-stroke turnaround by the Falcons had them working their way up the leaderboard going into Sunday. The team had to be very happy with the huge swing between the first and second rounds. Only the teams who finished in the top five were able to post rounds better than the 311 carded by the Falcons in the second round, who were now in definite contention going into Sunday.
“We played really well this weekend, but especially well in the second round. Jenny and I both had really good scores, as did the rest of the team. I felt the second 18 was a great team effort and we were able to adjust to the course,” Binzel said.
If the Falcons could have maintained their exceptional level of play after the second round, they would have been in contention to post their best finish on the road this year. The long day of 36 holes on Saturday made it especially hard for the team to maintain their good play on Sunday and the third round for the Falcons was not as successful. The Falcons scored a 333 in round three, their worst score of the tournament. Struggling with the final round, the Falcons found themselves in eleventh place overall for the tournament. The combined team’s effort for the tournament left them with total of 976, not too far behind the tournament’s winner and host, Penn State. Binzel was once again the top scorer for the team.
Binzel carded a 231 total and narrowly missed the top ten, finishing tied for 11th overall. Binzel shot an opening round 79, but like many of the Falcons, improved in the second round. In the second round she carded a 74, which was her best round of the tournament. The rest of the Falcon team was unable to break the top twenty for the tournament, but still posted good scores. The other Falcon golfers led by Binzel included Jenny Schnipke, with a 241, Stephanie Elsea, 252, Amanda Schroeder, 252, Kari Evans, 266 and Melissa Reeder, 273.
