After finishing a disappointing ninth place last weekend at the Wolverine Invitational, the Michigan women's golf team will try to finish its fall season on an upbeat note this weekend, at the Lady Kat Invitational in Lexington, Ky.
"Hopefully, we'll play with more mental toughness and improve to where we can head into the spring season on a positive note," Michigan coach Kathy Teichert said.
Michigan will try to duplicate what it accomplished two years ago, when the Wolverines won the tournament. Last year, they finished fourth.
Michigan will be competing with 17 other schools this weekend at the three-day tournament. The competition will be held at the par-74 Spring Lake Country Club Golf Course, which plays to 5,886 yards.
If Michigan is to be successful, it will once again have to rely on the play of junior Sharon Park, who will be returning to her home state - where she was named "Ms. Golf" her senior year in high school. Park has led the Wolverines in scoring in every tournament this year.
"Park is an excellent player but has gotten off to a slow start and needs to get her confidence back," Teichert said.
As a senior in high school, Park won the individual state high school championship. Since her arrival at Michigan three years ago, she has been one of the Wolverines' top players, winning the Boilermaker Spring Invitational as a freshman and Wisconsin's Lady Badger last fall.
Last weekend, Michigan finished a disappointing 89 shots back of victorious Indiana. The Hoosiers also won last year's Wolverine Invitational. Park led the Wolverines with an 82-shot average and a 20th-place finish. Senior Nicole Green finished 28th with a combined score of 250.
"Green also needs to gain more confidence, because she has the talent to score better than she has shown so far," Teichert said.
This weekend's tournament will be the final measuring stick for how far the Michigan team has come this year. It will also let Teichert know how much work will need to be done before the spring season starts in February, capped off by the Big Ten championship in May.
"This team does have good potential, but it is young and inexperienced overall," Teichert said.
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