The Penn women's golf team faced difficult conditions and an unfamiliar course at this weekend's Harvard Women's Invitational in the Quakers' final event of the fall season.
Despite these difficulties, Penn managed to tie St. John's for fourth in the eight-team field. The fourth-place finish was the Quakers' best finish of the fall season.
Held in New Seabury, Mass., the invitational featured cold, windy weather throughout, challenging the participants' mental toughness.
"The weather played a huge factor," sophomore Kim Thompson said. "You could hit a nice shot, and the wind would blow it into a hazard."
"It was pretty windy and very cold," coach Francis Vaughn said. "The weather affected every team in the tournament."
As if temperatures in the mid-40s and high winds were not enough, the Quakers were playing the Dunes Course at the Country Club of New Seabury for the first time.
"This was the first time we played the course," Thompson said. "Plus, we only played nine holes in the practice round."
The Quakers' lack of experience on the Dunes Course may have been most evident on the putting surfaces.
"The greens were very fast," junior Melissa Aylor said. "There was a frost the first morning, making the greens firm."
"The greens were very slick and large," Thompson said. "There were a few three-putts included in our scores."
The Quakers improved their scores on the second day of the event, tallying the score of 335 as a team. Only Yale, the champion of the tournament, scored better than the Red and Blue on Sunday.
"Improvement between the first day and the second day was really good," Vaughn said. "Having played the golf course for the third time definitely makes a difference."
Sophomore Jenna Skorupa was Penn's top finisher, earning a tie for 10th with Georgetown's Connie Isler with a plus-26 on the weekend. Thompson and Aylor joined Skorupa in the top 20 of the individual results, finishing 12th and 17th with scores of plus-27 and plus-29, respectively.
Junior Lauren Eveland earned 21st for the Red and Blue, sophomore Alexis Wukich finished 42nd and freshman Stephanie Stamas concluded her first collegiate season with a 43rd-place finish.
The Quakers now enter the offseason, where they hope to continue the development of their mental and physical games.
"We try to lift weights two to three times per week to stay in shape," Aylor said. "We also use a computer program to analyze our swings and stay in mid-season form."
"We generally play 18 holes per week on the golf simulator at Pottruck," Thompson added. "This offseason we need to work on our course management and mental games."
