They say all good things must come to an end. But if the way the
women’s golf team played this past fall is any indicator,
this good thing is far from over.
Two seasons ago, the team brought home the national
championship. Last season, the team completed their encore
performance, finishing second in the nation. All of which leaves
the question:
What’s next?
“I think everyone is expecting to go undefeated. We got a
team that can shoot low when we need to shoot low. Now it’s
just a matter of not getting ahead of ourselves and taking it game
by game and shot by shot,” said senior Susie Mathews, a
member of the 2004 team that won the national title.
If the fall season was any indication of what is to come, the
Bruins have much to look forward to.
A weekend after their record-breaking victory in Las Vegas, the
team completed their fall season, finishing third at the Collegiate
Match Play Championship at the Mission Inn Resort in Florida.
After defeating UC Irvine and Michigan State in the first two
rounds, the Bruins stumbled against Arizona State in the
semifinals.
But led by Mathews’ strong performance, the team rebounded
in the third-place match, defeating Texas A&M 4-1-0 to cap a
successful weekend against the nation’s best teams.
“Match play is a lot of fun because you’re
head-to-head with one player. It really brings out the competitive
spirit because when you’re head-to-head it’s just
fight, fight, fight,” said Mathews.
Heading into the offseason, the team has a great deal to look
forward to. Ranked second in the nation, the team has come on
strong in the past month.
At the match play tournament, all six of the golfers won at
least one of their matches, including the team’s three
freshman.
And the team’s success was not the only good news. With
their solid performances at the tour’s qualifying tournament,
both sophomore Amie Cochran and junior Hannah Jun earned themselves
a spot on the 2006 Futures Tour.
Often seen as a stepping stone to the LPGA, the Futures Tour
gives an opportunity to amateur golfers to compete amongst the
world’s best golfers.
Both players will now be eligible to compete in the Tour’s
events during the summer.
Despite the team’s success, Mathews believes there is
still room for improvement.
“There’s always areas to improve. The two things
we’ll be focusing on in the winter is the short game and
fitness and conditioning. Short game is important because if you
can sink the putts, you can drop your scores low, and also open up
your long game,” said Mathews.
With the spring season still months away, the team will have
ample time to practice and prepare for the road that lies
ahead.
And although the players would like not to get ahead of
themselves, it’s hard not to start dreaming about the Bruins
hoisting the national title once again in the spring.