The UW Oshkosh women’s golf team placed fourth out of 17 teams in its first event of the spring season last weekend.

The Kathy Niepagen Spring Fling at the Ironwood Golf Course in Normal, Illinois was cut short due to impending poor weather conditions, so teams played only one round during the weekend.
Freshman Margherite Pettenuzzo led the Titans, tying for 13th place with a score of 5-over par. Pettenuzzo’s career-high score left her four shots off the lead at the end of the day.
Pettenuzzo said the poor weather conditions and having to practice in three separate locations didn’t have a huge effect on how she played in Illinois.

“The different practice locations throughout the week did not affect my game as much as I thought it would,” Pettenuzzo said. “I knew going into the tournament that my swing would not be the best it could be because of the practice situations that we encountered during the week.”

Junior Hannah Braun, senior Kayla Priebe and freshman Erika Priebe tied for 22nd place with a 79 on the day.

Pettenuzzo said competing and succeeding against some very good teams gives UWO some confidence moving forward.

“Placing fourth in this meet gives our team so much confidence heading into the rest of the season because we played well collectively and beat some good teams who are ranked above us,”

Pettenuzzo said. “We saw how much potential we can have as a team this weekend and we are all so excited to see what we can accomplish in the upcoming weeks, especially with more practice to come.”

Head coach Liza Ruetten said the team stacked up very well with the competition at the meet.

“This meet had several of the top teams in the country in attendance,” Ruetten said. “I feel our opening round of 314 was excellent for this tournament and definitely helped the players realize how far we’ve come in the past few years.”

UWO junior Hanna Rebholz placed 82nd with a score of 94 to round out the Titan competitors.

Ruetten said the lost practice time may have factored into the players missing some shots and shooting higher scores.

“I know several of the players mentioned shots they left around the greens,” Ruetten said. “This is one practice area that is hard to focus on at our indoor facilities as we do not have an indoor putting green. I have been most pleased with their dedication and focus during practice regardless of the location.”

The Titans will travel to Beloit next weekend for the UW-Whitewater Spring Invitational where play will begin at noon on Friday.