The UW Oshkosh women’s golf team finished fourth place at the St. Kate Fall Invitational in Prior Lake, Minnesota, last weekend.

The key to the fourth-place finish was a strong showing on the second day as the team finished 30 strokes better than the previous round. The team was led by top-10 finishers seniors Hannah Braun and Hanna Rebholz, who finished fourth and ninth, respectively.

Rebholz said the team golfed much better on the second day because they were more comfortable with the course.

“On the second day of the tournament, we all felt more relaxed,” Rebholz said. “We had settled into place and knew what we had to fix and improve, and we were all able to execute that. We were also allowed riding carts, which helped with pace of play and not getting as tired.”

Head coach Liza Reutten said the conditions played a part on Saturday, the team expected to rebound the following day.

“The Wilds Golf Club was the toughest course we have played this fall,” Reutten said. “For our second round, each player set some small goals and came up with personal game plans to attack the course for day two. All showed improvement on short game and course management to reach their impressive team score of 310.”

The rebound was made more impressive considering the withdrawal of sophomore Erika Priebe from the tournament.

“Only having four girls and having to count all four scores is tough and puts a lot of pressure on us as players, but we all handled it very well and were able to improve by 30 stokes the next day,” Rebholz said.

Rounding off the Titan scoring were freshman Lauryn Davis, sophomore Margherite Pettenuzzo (each tied for ninth at 169 strokes) and freshman Megan Footit adding 194 strokes for a 68th-place finish.

Davis said the obstacles that the course presented the players caused some higher scores on the first day of competition.

“I believe we shot better the second day because we knew the course better; we knew where to miss and knew where to score,” Davis said. “The Wilds was a very protected course by bunkers and water and fescue grasses, and it was a course where you really needed to know where to miss to play well.”

The team will compete at the UW-Stevens Point Mad Dawg Invitational on Sept. 28-29 for one last meet before the WIAC tournament on Oct. 4-6.