Women's golf takes sixth place

Four freshmen and two sophomores on the Michigan women's golf team almost grabbed some limelight from their hosts this past weekend.

The Wolverines finished sixth, a few strokes away from tournament holder Iowa, at the Hawkeye Invitational. In its final regular season tournament this past weekend, Michigan coach Kathy Teichert sent a young group to compete for the Wolverines, while resting her upperclassmen for the Big Ten Championships that begin April 30.

"It's really exciting to see what our future will be like," Teichert said. "We showed that we're going the right way."

After a lackluster 331 Saturday outing, Michigan finished strong on Sunday, lowering its score to 324 to finish with a 657 total for the weekend.

Led by freshman Bess Bowers (80-80, 11th) and sophomores Amy Talbot (83-82, 25th) and LeAnna Wicks (84-79 19th), Michigan finished to a tune that Teichert thought would elevate her team above the fifth-place Hawkeyes. But as the afternoon ended, the Wolverines fell short by four strokes.

Sophomore Trish Watkins, who competed as Michigan's individual and therefore was a non-scorer, couldn't contribute her 83-81, two-day performance.

"Had we been able to use Trish's score, we would have beaten Iowa and taken fifth," Teichert said.

04-19-99