49ers
finish strong in last tournament of fall
semester
By
Karl Peterson
On-line Forty-Niner
In
the last tournament of the fall season,
the Long Beach State women's golf team finished
fourth in a field of 17 teams due to a strong
finish in the final round.
The
Kent Youel Invitational at Kapolei Golf
Course in Honolulu was kind to the 49ers
as the team set a new record for total team
shots with 911.
The
Australian sophomore Hayley Wilkinson finished
best for The Beach in eighth place overall.
Head
coach Sue Ewart said she was pleased with
her teams performance, especially the fact
that they beat several skilled teams, including
teams ranked nationally.
Ewart
was also pleased with the play of freshman
Beth Holtermann who tied her personal best
low-score.
"I
look for [Holtermann] to improve in the
Spring," Ewart said. "She has
the uncanny ability to score"
The
freshman's performance was especially impressive
considering she had never played 36 holes
in one day prior to the tournament in Hawaii.
The
University of Oklahoma won the tournament,
beating LBSU by 22 strokes and the University
of Washington's Paige MacKenzie was the
top finishing individual.
This
is the last tournament for the 49ers until
February when the team will embark on a
tough span of six tournaments, the most
the team usually plays in a semester. This
will mean plenty of time away from campus
for a team that already misses more school
due to competition than any other teams
on campus.
All
of the time away from classes has not affected
the student-athletes on the women's golf
team as they finished with the highest team
grade point average of all teams at LBSU.
In
its off time the team will practice as much
as the NCAA provisions will allow and many
will travel home during the holidays, including
Marie Louise Juul. The Danish senior will
travel home and perhaps caddie for her sister
who is in her second year on the European
PGA tour.
As
part of its practice the team will work
with trainer Paul David and flexability
coach Sean Torbati as well as continue to
work sports psychologist and LBSU professor
Kevin Sverduk.
Juul
swears by the work Sverduk has done with
her. She said that after a summer trip to
China where she lost confidence in her game
but after working with Sverduk her confidence
has improved.
"In
Hawaii, I had no problems with my trust,"
Juul said. "I didn't even let my bad
putting affect me."
The
49ers play next at the Bay Area Classic
in February.
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