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Going into its second event of the fall season at the Mary Fossum Invitational in East Lansing, several veterans from the new-look Michigan women’s golf team hoped to improve their play after a disappointing start to the season.
While the team didn’t secure victory, redshirt sophomore Mara Janess and junior Sydney Sung indeed stepped up, especially for a team with no seniors. Both secured individual top-10 finishes to lead Michigan to a sixth-place finish in the fifteen-team field.
“Both Sydney and Mara worked really hard,” Michigan coach Jan Dowling said. “I know that both of them were not happy with their performances (in the first tournament), and it was great for them to see that hard work pay off so quickly.”
In the two-day, 54-hole event at the Forest Akers West Course, the Wolverines put together scores of 296-293-298, ultimately finishing 40 shots back from the eventual winners, Ole Miss.
Though a win was far from reach, Dowling was satisfied to see a lineup made up of mostly freshmen and sophomores put together an overall solid performance. With the loss of two All-Big Ten players in Hailey Borja and Monet Chun, learning to adapt quickly has become essential for this young team.
“We’re learning to be okay with being uncomfortable,” Dowling said. “That was really big for our young team this week,” Dowling said.
After the first round of the tournament, Michigan found itself right in the middle of the pack, in eighth place overall. Janess and Sung paced the Wolverines, with scores of 72 and 73, respectively.
The second of two rounds on Sunday brought more success and exemplified Michigan’s ability to adapt to uncomfortable circumstances. Late into the second 18 holes of the tournament, players were presented with the challenge of pouring rain.
With a slow start in the first round overall, the Wolverines could have easily fallen to the back of the pack. Instead, they shot their lowest round of the week, 293, good for the third lowest of all teams in the second round.
“We got stronger as the day went on, and I thought they adjusted really well,” Dowling said. “The last six, seven holes were in pouring rain, and we kept it together, which was really impressive. We had a really nice round going.”
This strong second round for Michigan was spearheaded by a career-best-tying one-under 71 from Janess as well as a 71 from Sung. These low scores allowed the Wolverines to jump into fifth place heading into the third round.
With hopes to continue the upward trend in play, Michigan performed similarly to the first round of the week, with every golfer shooting over par. Freshman Suzie Tran provided her second 74 of the week after doing the same in the first round. Janess and Sung added 73 and 74, respectively, to secure the Wolverines’ sixth-place finish as a team.
As the season gets underway, Michigan looks to take positives from this performance.
“While you don’t know that you can win a tournament until you’ve done it, having some evidence along the way that you do belong is huge,” Dowling said. “And I think we’re seeing that, both in the individual performances and then also as a team as well.”
In addition to individual top-10 finishes, personal records further provided evidence of belonging. Janess’ even par score of 216 for the tournament bested her previous career-low by an impressive nine strokes, while Sung’s score of 218 also provided a new career-low by one stroke.
After two tournaments, the Wolverines have been able to identify positive takeaways from both performances. When the veterans weren’t able to perform a couple of weeks ago, several freshmen such as Tran and Mimi Guo secured top-20 finishes in their debut. While the young players’ success wasn’t the same this week, Sung and Janess were there to lead instead.
“It’s been really cool to see four different people step up so far for a young team,” Dowling said. “And I think they’re gaining confidence from that experience.”
Michigan’s logical next step going forward will be to have a week where Janess, Sung, Tran and Guo can provide this type of strong play simultaneously. With four strong scores across the week, the possibility of competing for tournament victories could be in reach for the new-look Wolverines.
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