The UW Oshkosh women’s golf team finished fourth out of ten teams at the UW-Whitewater Spring Fling meet in Janesville last Saturday.

After finishing up a 36 hole meet on April 17, the UWO team played its third consecutive round of 18 holes at the Riverside Golf Course. UWO put up their lowest 18-hole score of the season with a 336, a 46 stroke improvement from their first meet of the year where they put up a score of 382 at the Carthage College Firebird Invitational.

Head coach Beth Hubbard notices her team’s progress, and she says the lower the team’s scores get, the more confident she is in her players’ abilities going into the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) tournament.

“We finished with a team low score 336 for the season, which is exactly where we want to be, riding that momentum into the conference championship,” Hubbard said.

Sophomore golfer Lauryn Davis became the first UWO member to shoot below 80 on 18 holes this year by putting up a score of 79. Before her 79, the lowest score on UWO from this year was an 82 by Davis and junior Margheritte Pettenuzzo.

Hubbard said Davis’ mindset helped her just as much as her sound mechanics did this past weekend by having a positive outlook on her game and taking the match one stroke at a time.

“Lauryn has a strong mental game along with her strong golf game, both that really shined this weekend,” she said.

UWO has finished in at least the top half of the field in all four of its meets so far.

Hubbard said that the hard work put forth by each of her golfers makes them all astounding players and that the overall success reflects the respect they have for each other and the game.

“I believe what makes us such a strong team is that each player is a team leader,” Hubbard said. “They have confidence in the team, they respect each other and they demonstrate a strong work ethic.”

Even with the team putting up some impressive numbers so far this season, Hubbard sees working around the greens as an aspect of the game that can never be emphasized enough.

“We’ll continue this week, focusing on approach shots and [our] short game,” she said. “My dad used to always say ‘your short game is the last to come and the first to go,’ so we are continuing to work on lag putts and chipping to capitalize on birdie opportunities.”

The WIAC championship will take place from Friday to Sunday at Reedsburg Country Club in Reedsburg with tee times at noon on Friday and at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Hubbard believes that there is no ceiling for this team’s capabilities come tournament time.

“Every player on this team is capable of a strong performance at conference,” she said. “If we continue to adjust course management over the three-day tournament and stay mentally strong, we have a fighting chance.”