Women's golf takes fth at Spartan Invitational

The Michigan women's golf team began its fall season on a positive note, finishing tied for fifth out of 12 teams at the Mary Fossum/Spartan Invitational this past weekend in East Lansing.

By posting an overall score of 953 for the 54-hole event, the Wolverines tied Notre Dame and Illinois State. Host Michigan State won the tournament, posting a score of 895, 34 strokes better than second-place Wisconsin.

The Wolverines were led by senior Sharon Park, who posted a 233 to tie for ninth individually out of the 89 women competing. Park has been the team leader for Michigan the past three seasons, finishing seventh in the Big Ten tournament the past two years. She is aiming to finish higher this year.

Sophomore Trish Watkins also performed well, posting a career-best 54-hole total of 235 to finish in 14th place.

Michigan coach Kathy Teichert said she was impressed by her teams performance, despite the lack of preparation time. Team practice began on Labor Day, just one day before classes started.

"We had some definite bright spots to build upon, and I know that this team will continue to improve," Teichert said. "I like the fact that we had four players score in the 70s in the first round and two players finish the tournament with average scores in the 70s."

The fifth-place finish for the Wolverines already represents an improvement over last season's, when the Wolverines finished last in the Big Ten. Included in this tournament were victories over Big Ten rival Illinois and local foe Eastern Michigan. Overall, the Wolverines finished third out of four Big Ten teams, losing only to Michigan State and Wisconsin.

The young Michigan team also featured good showings by four other competitors. Freshmen LeAnn Wicks and Bess Bowers both had solid first tournaments, finishing with scores of 242 and 245 respectively. Wicks' score tied her for 28th overall and Bowers ended up tied for 37th. Sophomore Amy Talbot shot her way to a three- round total of 247, which put her in 40th place and made her the fifth Wolverine to finish in the top half of the tournament.

Rounding out the players and just missing the top half was sophomore Jennifer Baumann, whose 250 put her in 45th place.

The Wolverines will take a break from competition this coming week, and will resume play Sept. 25 in West Lafeyette at the Lady Northern Intercollegiate. The Big Ten Championship will be held at the same location this spring.

09-15-98