Iowa is chance to tune for Big Tens

With the Big Ten Championships looming on the horizon, the Michigan women's golf team will be looking to fine tune its game this weekend at the Hawkeye Invitational in Iowa City.

The tournament will be the final competition on Michigan's regular-season schedule.

Coming off a somewhat disappointing ninth-place finish at Indiana last week, the youthful Wolverines are hoping to build some momentum amidst the corn fields against teams such as Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, as well as host Iowa.

"Last weekend, we didn't get the expected results," Michigan coach Kathy Teichert said. "We had been improving up until that point, but we had some problems in Indiana. I'm concerned with how we performed."

Teichert was especially disappointed with the team's performance on its up-and-downs and sand saves. Last weekend, the Wolverines were only 25-percent on up-and-downs and had zero sand saves, figures which Teichert said the team needs to improve on.

DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily This weekend, Bess Bowers and the Michigan women's golf team will be looking to fine tune their games at the Hawkeye Invitational in Iowa City.

"The greens at Indiana were difficult to handle and as a result we had an average of 35.5 putts per round," Teichert said. "Your scores are quite reflective of how you do on your up-and-downs, and we were very bad in that area. That outweighed any positives we had."

The Wolverines will be taking an inexperienced group to Iowa, composed of four freshmen and two sophomores.

This means that senior standout Sharon Park will be staying home. Teichert said she felt that taking a young team would not necessarily be a disadvantage.

"We've got some players who are pretty close to each other in terms of performance," Teichert said. "We've got to find out who can perform under pressure.

"This weekend will also be a chance for Sharon to get some rest. She's been hitting the ball well, but she's under a lot of stress with exams coming up, and she's tired. She'll definitely be at Big Tens."

The Wolverines have had their share of struggles this season, but perhaps that is to be expected from a team with only one senior. But despite the inconsistency, Teichert said that the experience has been enjoyable.

"We've definitely been a little inconsistent at times," Teichert said. "For example, in one round earlier this year, Bess Bowers shot 41 for the front nine, and then 33 for the back nine. But, it's exciting to be able to see that they can come back from a tough stretch.

"With consistency comes results, and the more the girls are out there, the better they get. We just need to raise our expectations to a higher level to move up. Overall, I'm very excited for the future of this team."

But regardless of struggles, the fact remains that there is but a fortnight remaining between this weekend's competition and the Big Ten Championships.

With that in mind, Teichert assessed her team's performance to date and its chances for a title.

"What we need to be successful is for the girls to stick to their game plans," Teichert said. "The players will have to be decisive in both their thought processes and their shot selections.

"We've made a lot of improvements this year, but the Big Ten is stronger than it's ever been. We've definitely got our work cut out for us. If the girls have confidence in their games, and if we can put it all together at the right time, I think we can do well."

04-15-99