Pepperdine’s women’s golf team played with the disadvantage of being down one player at The Landfall Tradition/NCAA Preview in Wilmington North Carolina from Oct. 23 to 25. By the end of the day on Sunday the team dropped from 11th to 17th place.
The Landfall/Pete Dye Course par-72 hosted the biggest fall tournament this season. Fourteen of Golfstat’s top 20 players with Pepperdine at number seven competed in this tournament. This course will also be the site of the 2010 NCAA Championships.
“We struggled this tournament but I think we all learned a lot about the course in preparation for Nationals which is held at the same course said sophomore Kaitlin Drolson. So even though we didn’t do well I think we all took away some things to be better prepared for when nationals comes around the corner.”
Even though the Waves were short one player and so had no low score to throw out Pepperdine shot a 303 for the second consecutive day and were tied with Michigan State Georgia and Oklahoma State with totals of 606 on Sunday.
With only four team members instead of five competing in the final round Pepperdine finished with a total of 919. This placed the Waves right behind the University of Southern California which was in 16th place.
Junior Taylore Karle who shot a 79 in the first round withdrew early out of the second round on Saturday because of illness with hopes of returning but was unable to preform for the remainder of the tournament.
“I went to urgent care to find I had bronchitis and a sinus infection Karle said. I knew my team could hold strong.”
Moving up 11 spots from the last tournament was sophomore Lisa McCloskey thanks to her shooting 1-over 73. Tied for 33rd place at 149 McCloskey was the top Wave on the scoreboard from the beginning till the end of the tournament.
Throughout the course she had two birdies and 15 pars. She only had problems on one hole which is an improvement and she notched a triple-bogey on the 17th hole.
Following close behind was sophomore Jessica Wallace who tied for 38th place at 150 and junior Martine de Gannes was tied at 40th place at 151. De Gannes had three birdies total. Drolson was tied at 75th place at 160 and had two birdies during the second round.
Practice makes perfect especially in when it comes to golf. The golf team has a lot to work on before thier next tournament but they are aware of the areas that need to focus on the most.
“We’re going to work on our long irons and our putting Karle said. I think with those skills conquered we will do great in our next tournament.”
The Waves now move into a long period of rest and training. Coming up for Pepperdine’s women’s golf team is the Northrup Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes in February.
