Women's golf places sixth in 15-team Mary Fossum Invite

For three years women's golf at Princeton has been dominated by one player. That player is senior Avery Kiser. At this weekend's Mary Fossum Invitational, a couple of Tigers made a strong statement that Kiser's domination might be threatened.

The Tigers travelled to the Forest Akers West Golf Course in East Lansing, Mich. to compete in the 15-team tournament. While the team finished in sixth place, it is a welcome site to see players other than Kiser placing near the top of the leaderboard.

Sophomore Sharla Cloutier was the top Tiger finisher as she finished in a tie for ninth place. She finished the three round tournament 15-over par and 12 shots behind Michigan's Brianna Broderick who won the tournament. Cloutier's scores for the weekend were 78-75-78.

"This was our first time out, and we all could have done a little better," Cloutier said. "I was happy with my score but there was definitely room for improvement."

As a team, the Tigers entered the third and final round in sixth place. A final-day team score of 315 gave the Tigers a final score of 935, or 71-over par. This was 16 strokes off the pace set by Michigan, who won the tournament.

"We did pretty well considering this was our first tournament," Cloutier said. "This was very tough competition."

However, the Tigers had every reason to expect a better result after playing incredibly well in the qualifier. Princeton had four players average under 76 strokes per round in that tournament, but no one was able to duplicate those results over the weekend.

"We all had some problems putting," Cloutier said. "We are all beasts and drive the ball really far, but our short game let us down."

Kiser had a disappointing tournament as she finished in 28th place at the tournament. She finished at 20-over par after shooing a final-round 82.

After Cloutier, freshman Annika Welander was the next best Tiger finisher. After a final round of 79, she placed in a tie for 16th place. Her three-round total was 17-over par.

"[Kiser] is our stronghold, and she is a really awesome player," Cloutier said. "She just struggled a little this weekend."

While the team certainly could have placed higher than sixth, it was only their first tournament. The Tigers should also find consolation in the knowledge that they will not be solely dependent on Kiser for their wins or losses.