Women's golf shows off depth in winning Princeton Invite

It is not a coincidence that Jack Nicklaus won six Masters. After all, the man who is still considered the best golfer of all time (sorry Tiger, you are in a slump) played there enough times to get to know the course. In golf, familiarity breeds excellence. Even without raucous crowds, noisemakers and drunk white trash (sorry Nascar fans), the theory of home-field advantage rings true.

This weekend, the women's golf team proved that maxim once again. Hosting 11 other schools at the two-day Princeton Invitational, the Tigers finished first with a total score of 621, topping Yale by 21 strokes. The victory is the second consecutive for the women's team in this event.

Princeton's 'B' squad, which also competed in the home tournament, finished three shots behind Georgetown to finish fourth. Bucknell was the only other school to send two squads. They finished ninth and 14th, respectively.

Individually, senior Avery Kiser continued her dominant play, tacking on another crown to her already impressive resumé. Last spring, Kiser won her third straight individual Ivy League crown. The senior superstar's rounds of 75 and 74 were three shots better than January Romero of Yale, who finished with a two-round total of 152. Sophomore Sharla Cloutier finished fourth for Princeton at 11 over par, six shots behind Kiser.

The other Tigers who placed well were senior Meg Nakamura and freshman Annika "Sorenstam" Windon, who tied for fifth, one stroke behind Cloutier. Freshman Annika Welander tied for seventh, one stroke behind her two teammates.

Though no research has been done on this, it is possible that this year's golf squad is the first collegiate team with two girls named Annika. For now, they are living up to their namesake.

Nakamura, who has been an integral member of the squad for the last three years, led the tournament after the first day with a 73. That number was the lowest score put up over the weekend. Unfortunately for Nakamura, putting woes doomed an otherwise solid Sunday, as she limped in with a second round 83. Nakamura, though, has been struggling so far this fall and was playing for the Tiger 'B' squad.

Senior Taryn Haladay, who has been lighting up the leader board in the early going this fall, finished with an uncharacteristic 85 to go along with her opening 80. Though the team won without Haladay's 'A' game, the senior was not thrilled with her performance on the eve of her 22nd birthday. Her plus-21 put her in a tie for 20th place.

The team also showed good consistency this weekend from the top to the bottom of the lineup. Every player broke 90 in both rounds, as the Tigers exhibited depth as well as talent.

Princeton is back at it again this weekend, when the squad will travel to University Park, Pa., to play in the Nittany Lion Fall Invitational, hosted by Penn State.

The team only has one weekend off in the fall season, which runs through October 26. Though the main season is the spring, solid showings in the fall will not only help the players' confidence but also give them valuable district points which help with NCAA Regional seedings, should the Tigers win the Ivy League and advance that far.