W. golf falls in second round of Atlanta tourney

It's going to be a long winter.

When snow covers the Springdale Golf Course, it will give the members of the women's golf team plenty of time to replay a fall season that ended in a most unsatisfactory manner.

The Tigers closed their fall season on Oct. 27 and 28 with a mediocre fifth place finish at the Lady Panther Invitational hosted by Georgia State, tumbling from first place after Day One.

Junior Vanessa Redman led the Tigers with a two-day total of 159, tying for ninth individually.

Redman's individual performance, however, offered little solace to a team that was plagued by inconsistency.

"We were definitely disappointed with the outcome of the tournament," Redman said. "We won this tournament last year and wanted to come south and defend our title, but unfortunately we did not play well enough both days."

Redman was the only Tiger whose score reflected an improvement from Day One to Day Two, as she carded 80, 79.

Freshman Avery Kiser, who claimed first place at the ECAC tournament two weeks ago, showed consistency in shooting consecutive rounds of 81 on the challenging course.

Sophomore Esty Dwek had the most disappointing outing. The talented native of Geneva, Switzerland, led the field after posting an excellent first-day score of 78. She carded 87 on Day Two, however, for a total of 165, dropping to 26th position.

Proving inconsistency may be contagious, freshman Meg Nakamura followed up an opening round of 79 with an 88 to tie for 29th. Classmate Taryn Haliday ended the tournament one shot behind Nakamura, carding two rounds of 84 for a total of 168. Unlike at the Princeton Invitational, where part of the tournament was played in torrential rain, the conditions were excellent for the Tigers in Atlanta. Nonetheless, team members classified the course as the most challenging of the fall season. Small greens and tight fairways on the Georgia State home course required deadly accuracy.

"This was the type of course that if you let one bad shot get to you, the shots could just add up. Staying mentally tough throughout the two rounds was key," Redman said.

Indicating savvy that may come with being the sole upperclassman on the team, Redman continued: "Although I was driving the ball straight and putting well, the best part of my game was my mental game."

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While the outcome of fall tournaments are of negligible statistical value in the coronation of the Ivy League champion, the Tigers' chief rivals — Brown and Yale — both had strong fall seasons, and look to dethrone Princeton come April.

The Tigers did not manage to win any of their five tournaments, but they did show flashes of brilliance; Kiser's ECAC title, Dwek's individual runner-up honors at the Princeton Invitational and the team's second-place showing at the ECAC tournament reveal the team has the talent required to step from also-ran to champion.

Redman exudes optimism and excitement when discussing the spring 2002 season for the women's golf team.

"We have a young team, but an extremely talented and dedicated team. There is so much enthusiasm with this team and we're having a lot of fun, but we realize that we can go much lower with our scores than what we showed this fall. In the off-season, we will be working hard to get our games to where they should be so that we can have a successful spring season and defend our Ivy League championship."