Women’s golf opens season this weekend

Sean Hastings, Sports Editor

The Eastern women’s golf team will get is 2016 spring season underway this weekend at the Southern Illinois Invitational. The invitational will be held at Hickory Ridge Golf Club in Carbondale.

Eastern will only play four matches in the spring as they played five in the fall semester. Eastern finished the fall season finishing in last place in three out of its five matches.

The Panthers will head to the Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne April 3-4. Eastern will be golfing at the Pine Valley Country Club in Fort Wayne Indiana.

The Panthers’ season will last until the end of April with the OVC Championship at Hampton Cove in Huntsville, Ala.

Before the Panthers head to the OVC Championship the Panthers will play in the Indiana State invite at the Terre Haute Country Club in Terre Haute, Ind.

Sophomore Anne Bahr was the Panthers’ top golfer in the fall averaging a score of 83.1. Her score was +12 over par. Bahr had a low round of 78 in the fall, three strokes better than anyone else on the roster.

Her low score of 78 came at the Dayton Fall Invitational Oct. 19-20 of 2015.

Junior Alexandra Pickens had an average score of 84.5 in the fall and she recorded a low score of 81. Junior Chloe Wong also had a low round of 81 in the fall with an average of 85.3. Pickens and Wong had +13 and +14 to par scores in the fall.

Pickens’ low score of 81 came at the Loyola-Chicago Fall Tourney Sept. 21 of 2015. Wong’s low score of 81 came at the same match.

Sophomore Hannah Magda recorded an average score of 88.7 with a low round of 83 in the fall. She ended up with a +17 to par.

Sophomore Madison Burget finished the fall season with an average of 89.3 and a low score of 83. Her low score came at the Murray State Fall Invite Sept. 14 of 2015 in the first round of the invite.

Eastern has a young team with now seniors on the team but four out of the seven women on the roster are juniors.

As a team, the Panthers’ team low score came at the Loyola-Chicago Fall Tourney with a score of 331 in the first round of the tournament.

Last year in the OVC tournament the Panthers finished in eighth out of 10 teams in the first round, eighth out of 10 in the second round, and ninth in the final round.

The story was much of the same all of last year with back of the pack finishes and the Panthers will have a chance to improve on that this year in the spring. It all gets started this weekend at the Hickory Ridge Golf Club.

 

Sean Hastings can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]