Poor
performance by The Beach in tournament
By
Karl Peterson
On-line Forty-Niner
Narrow
fairways and below average play caused the
women's golf coach to describe her teams
performance in one word, "dissapointing."
The
Beach finished in last place of the three-day
Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational held at Sahalee
Country Club in Sammamish, Wash, finishing
nearly 100 strokes behind the first place
team.
"[The
team] for the most part, did not show up,"
head coach Sue Ewart said. "We were
playing all solid teams, but I think we
should have been more competitive."
Sophomore
Hayley Wilkinson finished tops for the 49ers
tied for 42nd. After shooting a competitive
score of 71 Monday, the first day of play,
Ewart said "she lost her focus big
time, on Tuesday" when she shot a score
18 strokes higher, 88.
Because
Ewart believes the poor performance in Washington
was attributed mostly to lost focus, the
team is employing the help of a sports psychologist
to help the women maintain a winning attitude
on the golf course.
Among
the things that the coach and psychologist
will work on are how the golfers react to
shots, their pre-shot routine, trying to
make the game enjoyable instead of being
concerned with the pressure of competition.
The
University of Arizona, UC Berkely, and UCLA
finished one, two and three respectively
in the tournament. Individually, Arizona's
Erica Blasberg and USC's Irene Cho finished
tied for first shooting 219.
Ewart
said that she will use the poor performance
as motivation for upcoming practices and
that her golfers should "expect to
have some heavy duty work in the next couple
of weeks."
Ewart
also said she is most concerned about the
short game because it was the area in which
the golfer has most control. Ewart does
not mind if the golfers are inaccurate with
their long shots as long as they are able
to get up and down around the greens.
The
49ers will be back in action at the Wahine
Fall Invitational on the island of Oahu
in Hawaii, Nov. 4-5.
"We
were playing all solid teams, but I think
we should have been more competitive."
-- Sue Ewart,
head coach
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