Coming in second-to-last does not discourage the Penn State women's golf team, but just reminds it of the possibilities of improvement.
The team placed 16th of 17 universities at this weekend's Mercedes Benz Women's Championship, but there were a few highlights in the tournament that kept Penn State coach Denise St. Pierre optimistic. Junior Amber Weinerth (74-72-77/223) tied for 16th place and senior Lauren Lundy finished strong with a 75 in her last round.
"I was happy with how I finished and the way I competed," Lundy said. "The first two rounds were really a struggle, but I'm glad that I did not let it get to me because of how I ended up."
Although Weinerth and Lundy played well, teammates Evelyn Paik, Katrin Wolfe and Maggie Lester could not keep up with the pace. They finished in 81st, 88th and 93rd place, respectively. Since the lowest four out of five scores count toward the team total, the Nittany Lions could only rank above James Madison University.
"I don't get frustrated," Weinerth said. "There is nothing anyone can do when they are trying their best."
On the whole, the team noticed an improvement from working on visualizing the shot and concentrating on consistency, Lundy said.
Staying consistent can be hard to grasp when playing on a field for the first time.
The location of the Mercedes Benz tournament changes every year so the players have not golfed at the Cherokee Country Club in Knoxville, Tenn., before. The field was beautiful but tough, Weinerth said.
"There were a lot of challenges on the field," she said. "One of which was never playing on it before."
Combating a loss of self-assurance was also a hurdle for the team playing far from home this weekend. When the players hit the road and aren't scoring well, it really chips at their confidence, St. Pierre said.
"Overall it was a decent tournament for [Weinerth and Lundy], but we need four scores," she said.
A possible solution for the coach is to switch up the travel roster for the next tournament. She hopes that it might "shake things up" and motivate some players to improve.
"We've gotta make it happen at some point," she said.
