Women's golf copes with growing pains

Following a lackluster performance in last weekend's Lady Northern Intercollegiate Tournament at Penn State, the Michigan women's golf team will try to bounce back this weekend when it hosts the Wolverine Invitational.

With five freshmen on its squad, Michigan is struggling due to a lack of experience.

"I got a lot of experience in junior golf, so I am used to the competition," freshman Trish Watkins said. "However, a lot of the freshmen are just starting to get oriented to the collegiate game."

One of the reasons that the freshmen may be struggling is that they are getting used to college life at the same time they are trying to improve their golf games. Watkins, for one, has had to deal with a lack of down time.

"There is no time for relaxation," she said. "I'm either in class, studying, or playing golf. The body takes a real beating but it is worth it in order to play golf at this level."

After finishing a disappointing 14 out of 16 teams, including last among the Big Ten schools, Michigan will look for help from a golf course they know so well.

"We should have a real strong tournament because we have the advantage of competing on a course that we play on everyday," Watkins said.

This tournament is bigger than most for the Wolverines because it is their only home meet of the year.

Michigan will look for help from its top player, junior Sharon Park, who has led the team in scoring in the first two tournaments. The Wolverines will also look for leadership from their two seniors, Nicole Green and Laura Hess.

If the Wolverines are to win their first-ever Big Ten title, they are going to have to improve a great deal. They were beaten at last weekend's tournament by 88 strokes at the hands of their biggest rival, Ohio State. The closest they came to any Big Ten school was Illinois, which beat the Wolverines by 11 strokes.

While Michigan has struggled early, it does have the advantage of being such a young team. There is a lot of room for improvement, and the Wolverines just have to hope that the freshmen will be ready to go when the Big Ten championship rolls around in May.

The one great thing about young athletes is that they have a short memory. The young Wolverines will try and make this statement come true this weekend.

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