The Michigan women's golf team closed out its fall season with a fourth-place finish in the Lady Kat Invitational over the weekend.
Kentucky captured the title at Lexington's Spring Lake Country Club with a score of 904. The Wildcats edged out Memphis by eight strokes, and Purdue by 10.
Kentucky's Lauri Berles took the individual title, finishing at even par for the tournament, five strokes ahead of her nearest competitor.
Leading the way for the Wolverines was senior Wendy Wastfall, posting a three-day total of 226 strokes. Her steady play throughout the tournament earned her a fourth-place finish, missing third by only one stroke.
"This (score) was a career low for me, so I was pleased," Westfall said. "I made more birdies the first day than on the other two. I did not putt as well the last day."
Westfall shot a one-over 73 for the first round, slipping only slightly in the final two rounds.
"Wendy was in second place after the first day," Michigan coach Kathy Teichert said. "She had a couple of double bogeys on the last day. She could have easily finished third."
Sophomore Sharon Park also played well to start the tournament with an even-par 72 in the first round. Together with Westfall, the Wolverines grabbed an early lead. But their short game began to falter, and they fell to fourth after the second day.
"After the first round, we were in really good shape," Westfall said. "We knew everybody would be looking to catch us. Unfortunately, we got caught."
The Wolverines could not muster a comeback on the final day and ended the tournament in a fight to maintain their position against a charging Michigan State team.
Despite this, Michigan put together a very steady tournament. All five Wolverines placed in the top 40 out of 90 individual golfers, and combined to post their lowest team score of the fall.
Teichert praised the consistent play of her team and did not cite any specific problems.
"Going in, we knew there would be some tough competition," Teichert said. "We had some momentum after the first round and just tried to keep that going throughout the tournament. We just didn't get the two low numbers that we had the first day."