The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday- September 21, 1992-Page 7
Teeing
it up
*Women golfers prepare for another season
by Andy De Korte
Daily Sports Writer
Up and on the golf course at the crack of dawn.
Well, not quite.
However, getting the skinny on the Michigan wom-
en's golf team did illustrate the amount of work the
team requires.
My athletic odyssey started last Monday afternoon,
joining up with coach Sue LeClair shortly after practice
had started. LeClair had intended to have her team mem-
bers work on their short games and putting rather than
go out on the course. However, with the course basking
in the late summer sun, she decided to alter the agenda.
"With a day like today, how can you not let the girls go
out and play?" she asked.
While that day saw the Wolverine club out on the
course, a large segment of practice does not include the
links at all. Aside from working at the different putting
greens and the driving range at the University course,
the golfers frequently go to an off-campus driving range
between rounds.
Out on the course, veteran traveler and senior Wendy
Bigler said, "It's nice. This way there isn't a lot of
pressure on practice and we can work on things for the
tournaments. Sometimes, I'll get off to the driving
range before practice actually starts."
According to LeClair, the practice round will soon
become as scarce as Monday practices for the traveling
members of the team. Because of the nature of golf
tournaments, the five or six women who travel usually
need to leave Thursday to allow for a practice session
and two days of competition. The travel leaves them in
favor of an off day and a self-determined practice sched-
ule as tournaments approach.
"I really like to let them try to work on the things
that they feel they need to work on the most (rather than
having a rigid schedule)," LeClair said. "They know
what they need to work on."
Last week, because the Lady Northern tournament in
Iowa was three days instead of two, the team had to
leave Wednesday, costing the Wolverines yet another
day of preparation.
Of course, since the whole team does not go on the
trips, activity still continues at home. Just yesterday, as
the squad was completing the Lady Northern, Tiffany
McCorkel, Kate Hanson, and Carrie Nosenchuk contin-
ued to fine-tune their games on their home course.
While the three may not travel to compete in any of
the four fall tournaments, they still enjoy playing for
the squad.
"It's fun just being on the team," Hanson said. "I'd
like to compete, but it is fun golfing, hanging out with
the other girls on the team, and getting to know them.
We also have an opportunity to improve our game. It's
good to get some help, but you really don't need other
people to work on your game like in other sports. Of
course, the problem is when playing a round of golf, it
takes a long time, but it's better than studying."
Nosenchuk added, "One of the best things is playing
with other women who know how to golf. Other than
the golfers on the team, I don't know any other women
who golf well."
The camaraderie of the linksters is evident to anyone
who watches the team.
The experience of this team (four seniors, three ju-
niors, one sophomore and one freshman) allows for its
close-knit nature. That's not rhetoric just cooked up by
a coach or team captain.
"The people on the team had a lot to do with my de-
cision (to come to Michigan)," freshman Shannon
McDonald said. "The academics here, of course are
great, and I love the course, but I really like my team-'
mates."
It's the combination of teammates that excites
LeClair. Despite graduating a number of golfers last
season, including team leaders Erica Zonder and Kristin
Beilstein, LeClair expects the team to pick up where it
left off with the addition of McDonald and the emer-
gence of Jennie Zimmerman and Tegan McCorkel.
And so it goes after my last Sunday drive.
Senior Wendy Bigler shot rounds of 88 and 79 in the Lady Northern Invite for Michigan, which placed 10th out of 15 teams.
Good news bad news for linksters
by Ken Sugiura
Daily Sports Writer
This one can be classified in the
good news-bad news category. The
good news is the Michigan women's
golf team notched a top-10 finish at
the Lady Northern Invitational in
Iowa City. The bad news is that
there were only 15 teams entered.
The bad news is the last 18 holes
of the Invite were canceled due to
heavy rains yesterday morning. The
good news is that the premature end-
ing spared the team from staying in
the state of Iowa any longer.
The good news is that, with a
team score of 669, the Wolverines
were but eight strokes behind sev-
enth-place Northern Illinois. The bad
news is that tourney champion
Indiana finished in the next county
over, registering a 625 to claim the
title on the par-72 Finkbine Golf
Course. While in the final round
Michigan did improve six strokes
from its opening 341, it was not
enough to lift the Wolverines, as 1I
of the 15 entries lowered their scores
as well.
In a meet in which every Big Ten
school competed, Michigan got a
rather bitter taste of what lies ahead
this season. The Wolverines placed
eighth among conference teams,
ahead of Purdue, Penn State and
Northwestern.
However, Michigan coach Sue
LeClair's club may also have re-
ceived a more promising harbinger
in the form of freshman Shannon
McDonald. In her first college tour-
ney, the Kenilworth, Ill., native fired
rounds of 82 and 83 to finish 28th in
the individual standings. Taking
medalist honors was Illinois' Renee
Heiken, who shot identical rounds of
75.
McDonald's strong showing
came as something of a surprise to
LeClair, who figured teammates
Wendy Bigler and Tricia Good
would pace the Wolverines. How-
ever, it was the New Trier High
product who topped the squad.
Finishing behind McDonald were
senior co-captain Bigler, who placed
38th at 167, a shot ahead of team-
mate Jenny Zimmerman in 41st.
1
DEPARTMENT OF
RECREATIONAL
SPORTS
3
INTRAMURAL SPORTS PROGRAM
WANTED!!!
Ice Hockey Officials
Clinic Begins: Tuesday 9/22
7:00 P.M.
IMSB
For Additional Information Contact IMSB 763-3562
Hanson
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enior Portraits are here again! Beginning Septem-
ber 21st, seniors will have TWO WEEKS to be photo-
graphed for the yearbook. No appointment necessary.
So don't miss out on becoming a permanent part of
history.
TIME
:
8:30 A.M. TO 4:45
P.M.
PLACE:
BASEMENT OF THE UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARY
DATE
a'I
:
SEPTEMBER
2
1ST
OCTOBER
2ND
COST: $5
.00
./"' . /'1 A
-ImAr &
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