The women’s golf team has had great improvement since the fall back-to-back top-10 finishes in the last two weeks. The success is coming at the most important time of the year as the Panthers are heading to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

Eastern will head to Huntsville, Ala. to play at the Hampton Cove Golf Course looking to build on the late season success.

Hampton Cove has a par of 72 with a yardage of 6,050. This is the second straight year the OVC Championship has been at Hampton Cove.

The teams will play three rounds over the three-day tournament beginning Monday.

Eastern finished in ninth at last year’s tournament. Eastern Kentucky won last year’s championship by overcoming a four-shot deficit to Jacksonville State to win by one stroke.

The Panthers captured their best finish of the season last weekend with a seventh place finish out of the 14-team field.

Junior Chloe Wong led the Panthers with a score of 76 and finished tied for seventh, earning her second straight top-10 finish.

She was also the top finisher last year for Eastern.

“Staying patient and positive with each shot will help me succeed this week,” Wong said. “No matter what happens, I will remind myself that there is still a lot of golf left.

Sophomore Anne Bahr has also found some success throughout the spring. She said she mainly learned the quirks of the course after playing there last year, which will help her this year at Hampton Cove.

“The main thing I’m taking into this conference after last year is where to hit and where not to hit,” Bahr said. “There’s a few tricky spots where you have to hit it in the right area or you could be in some trouble.”

For Bahr, her mental game will be key as well as staying positive and in the moment.

Junior Alexandra Pickens finished the round with a score of 79, tied for 22nd.

Pickens has improved each match since the beginning of the spring.

“My putting has been a lot more consistent, and putting is very important on the course we play this week,” Pickens said. “Paying close attention to the greens is going to be critical for scoring as well.”

With the team’s improvement, it has the Panthers confident heading into the tournament knowing they can hit shots to score and place well.

Eastern and the rest of the teams will tee-off at 8 a.m.

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