Senior Laura Stair and sophomore Kayla Priebe led the way for the Titans as UW Oshkosh finished fourth among 16 teams at the UW-Whitewater Women’s Golf Spring Fling held Friday and Saturday at the Beloit Club.
The duo shared ninth place in the individual listings and both tallied 169 strokes to go 25 over par this past weekend. Priebe came to the clubhouse with a tally of 85 shots after the first round and managed to come back with a round of 84 on the second day.
Priebe, who has scored in the top 10 individually six times out of the eight tournaments, said she was impressed with the improvement shown over the weekend.
“I was happy that we finished fourth in a strong field of teams,” said Priebe. “Our goal was to improve the second day, and we did that. So I think we were happy with the results.”
Stair shot an 82 in the first round, and finished the tournament with an 87 in the second. The senior is averaging 83.9 strokes per round this season.
Stair said striving towards the same goal every day helped the Titans achieve better results as the tournament went on.
“Our goal, for this spring season, is to take each tournament one shot at a time,” Stair said. “Our goal is to continue to gain tournament exposure and hold our own against other midwest teams. I also challenged the girls to take the experience we gained on the first day at the Beloit Club and build upon it for the second round. We lowered our team total by 12 strokes which was the third lowest team total of the second round.
Stair, who now has four top-10 finishes this season, said green speed and wind gusts were the biggest difficulties for players in the two-day tournament.
“The course had a few differences between the two days,” Stair said. “It was the first time for over half of our team to be playing this course so that was difficult within itself. Another thing was the first day we dealt with some strong wind as well as greens that were unbelievably fast. The second day played a little better considering the wind went down a bit as well as the greens slowing down.”
Stair is the only senior golfing for the Titans this season. When asked about her final tournament, she said she is looking forward to competing with her teammates one last time.
“This is my last tournament ever and it is going to be so awesome having the entire team there,” Stair said. “We have the goal to have fun and try to improve every day. Our team is so full of support and I have been so lucky to be a part of such an amazing program for the last three years.”
UW Oshkosh also had contributions from junior Micayla Richards, who came in 28th place with 177 strokes. Dianna Scheibe came in 31st with a total of 179 strokes, while Amanda Pederson finished 38th with 184 total strokes.
Richards and Scheibe both counted 85 strokes during the second round to improve their first-round score by seven and nine strokes, respectively.
UWO Head Coach Liza Ruetten was happy with the results and the hard work her team showed.
“I was extremely pleased with our finish,” Ruetten said. “This was the first time it was hosted at the Beloit Club. Playing an unknown course is always a challenge. Throw in strong winds and fast greens and the entire field had scores above the norm.”
Ruetten said she anticipates a strong performance in the tournament and fully expects the Titans to contend at a high level.
“We will have our top five players participating as a team for the first time this spring season,” Ruetten said. “I fully expect the team will be a strong contender for the Viking Invitational due to the strength of our squad and the momentum we have been displaying over the past two events.”
UW Oshkosh will conclude the 2016-17 season next Saturday and Sunday at the Viking Invitational in Rock Island, Ill.
