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In hopes of securing its first win of the fall season, the Michigan women’s golf team traveled to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to take part in the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational.
Similar to their previous result a week ago though, the Wolverines secured a middle-of-the-pack finish. They finished in eighth place out of the 15-team field amid a new course and difficult layout. Despite a disappointing team result, redshirt sophomore Mara Janess and junior Sydney Sung earned top-20 finishes.
“It was probably our first big test of the fall with some of the top teams in the country in the field,” Michigan coach Jan Dowling said. “This was also our first real look at the newly renovated UNC Finley Golf Club.”
On a new-look course that the Wolverines had no experience on, Michigan showed consistency over the three rounds, putting together scores of 292, 289 and 281. Those scores put the Wolverines 16 shots behind the tournament winner, Duke.
“Overall, I thought the team adjusted really well to a pretty tough golf course against very difficult teams,” Dowling said. “I’m really proud of the fact that we had three different people shoot their career-low rounds on this difficult layout.”
In the first round, Janess led Michigan with an even par score of 70, the first of the Wolverines’ three career-low rounds this week. Janess’ round included an eagle on the eighth hole, as well as two birdies. Sydney Sung provided a 71 as well, placing Michigan in a tie for sixth place heading into the second round.
The Wolverines improved their score on Saturday in the second round of the tournament, boosted by their two other career-low rounds of 71 and 72 from freshman Suzie Tran and sophomore Grace Wang, respectively. However, these scores weren’t enough for Michigan to climb up the leaderboard as it found itself dropping into ninth place going into the final round.
“The first two rounds were a huge team effort,” Dowling said. “In hindsight, just making a couple more putts and spending some more time in our practice round on getting a feel for how much these putts break and how fast the greens are I think could have made a difference.”
With hopes to climb the standings in the final round, the Wolverines looked to these career-low scores over the first two days to provide a potential spark. But that spark was only ignited in junior Lauren Sung, who hit a season-best even par 70, lifting her to a top-30 finish on the week. No other player from Michigan was able to shoot better than a score of 73.
Lauren’s performance could only do so much, as the Wolverines improved just one spot to finish the tournament in eighth place. While the results may not have been as desired, three top-30 finishes across the team indicated that several players were able to step up despite the unknown atmosphere.
“I think just getting comfortable competing against the best teams and players in the country is going to be the biggest thing we can take away from this week,” Dowling said.
Although a team victory was not in reach, Janess and Sydney made it back-to-back tournaments where they lowered or tied their career-low tournament scores. With such a young team, the duo’s consistent play may prove to be essential for Michigan going forward.
“They’re both very good ball strikers, as has been the case for the last two years or so, but I think their short games are now complementing that,” Dowling said. “I’m really happy with their progress, and it’s quite a test that they had this past week. I would say overall, they succeeded.”
The Wolverines may not be getting the tournament results they had dreamt up before the season. However, with strong play from veterans in Janess and the Sung sisters, Michigan could have a source of momentum moving forward.
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