Women's golf staggers to new lows this spring

To say that the Michigan women's golf team's season was disappointing would be putting it nicely. Saying that Michigan just didn't play well would be realistic. Stating that they did play well would be an outright lie.

The season went well beyond disappointment and mediocrity, straight to rock bottom. The Wolverines just didn't play up to par.

The Wolverines started out running last fall at the Michigan State Invitational, finishing in the top third of the teams with fifth place. Sharon Park led the team, as she has for most of the season, by firing a 236, giving her a seventh-place finish.

The Wolverines stumbled and fell for the rest of the season, with finishes in the middle or back of the pack. These include 14th place out of 16 at the Lady Northern Intercollegiate Invitational, 13th out of 18 while hosting the Wolverine Invitational and a 10th out of 18 in the Lady Kat Invitational to close out the fall season.

Spring meant a time of rebirth for the Wolverines, because they needed to learn how to walk again as far as golf went. They finished dead last out of 18 at the Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes, Calif., and eighth place out of nine at the Midwest Classic in Phoenix.

The Wolverines began to crawl into mediocrity by finishing 11th at the Ben Hogan Intercollegiate Invitational and 13th at the River Wilderness Invitational. Park lead the team in both of these tournaments with 18th and 38th placings, respectively. At the Indiana Invitational, the team began to take its first baby steps by producing a top-ten finish.

But with all first steps there is the inevitable fall. Point in case - Michigan's showing at the Big Ten Championships. The Wolverines finished dead last yet again, cementing their free fall into the basement of the Big Ten standings.

One of the bright spots in this otherwise bleak season was the near-consistent team finishes of Park and Nicole Green.

After hitting bottom, the only direction for the Wolverines to go is up. That's exactly where Park hopes they will go. With the departures of seniors Green and Hess, the team will likely be centered around Park.

"She should be one of the best returnees for next year," Michigan coach Kathy Teichert said.

The Wolverines hope they won't have to deal with the same growing pains as they had this year and they'll return with a more experienced team ready to compete. With a quality player such as Park, this could be possible, but if Park doesn't get the help to back her up, this young Michigan team will never learn how to talk the talk, let alone walk the walk.

05-11-98