W. Golf finishes 17th out of 17

Progress never comes easily, especially for a first-year varsity program taking on established competition. The Penn women's golf team found this out firsthand last weekend, shooting a two-round combined score of 812 (404-408) en route to a bottom-of-the-barrel 17th-place finish at the William and Mary Invitational. The tournament took place Saturday and Sunday on the 5,862-yard, par-71 Blackheath Course at the Ford's Colony Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va. "We're kind of disappointed with [our play in] the tournament," senior captain Natasha Miller said. "We placed last -- which we've done before -- but we feel like we haven't played to our full potential." James Madison won the 17-team, 36-hole competition with a two-day score of 616 (309-304). Host school William and Mary finished in second place with a total of 626 (313-313). The Quakers were competing in the toughest field of any tournament in their short history, a field that included national powers Yale, James Madison and Methodist College. Penn coach Francis Vaughn, who also coaches the men's golf team, has set the team's goals in terms of enjoyment and improvement, not scores and tournament finishes. But until this weekend's tournament, the Quakers had seen a steady improvement in their scores dating back to last fall. In last October's Rutgers Invitational, the Red and Blue carded back-to-back sub-400 rounds en route to a two-day score of 772 (391-381). This score was a drastic improvement over the 857 that the Quakers shot in the first tournament of the fall, the team's debut outing. After Rutgers, the team looked to keep building on its success, asserting that sub-400 rounds are a reasonable expectation for future tournaments. While they came short of reaching their goal at William and Mary, the Quakers still have a positive outlook. "It's a little setback, but we'll bounce back from it," Miller said. "We just need to regroup and work on the things that need to be worked on." The Quakers' final competition of the spring will be at the Ivy League Championships, to be held April 15 and 16 at Metedaconk National Golf Club in Jackson, N.J. Before the final tournament, though, the Quakers hope to iron out some of the kinks in their games -- especially long putting -- and generally regroup as a team. "We need to step up our practices and get the most out of our time at the Philadelphia Cricket Club," Miller said. "We want to go into the Ivies with a positive attitude." The Quakers should have the use of five team members at the Ivy Championships, something they have not had at their disposal all year. Having a fifth competitor should bode well for the Quakers' scores, because only the four best scores per day count toward the team total. "It's one thing if you have a bad day and you don't have to count your score," Miller said. "It's another thing if you have a bad day and every score has to count."

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