Tigers end season in 12th place at NCAA Regionals

Though the women's golf team failed to advance out of the NCAA East Regionals to the NCAA Championships this weekend, the Tigers did improve on their finish from last season. Princeton's 12th place finish out of the 21 squads competing displayed a marked advancement from last season's 19th.

The Tigers shot an overall 911, only 11 strokes out of a top-eight finish needed to advance to the NCAA finals. Ohio State won the tournament with an overall score of 856. Duke's Anna Grzebien had the lowest individual score with one under par. Despite not cracking the top eight, Princeton still managed to beat such nationally competitive teams as NC State, UNC Wilmington and Mississippi State that were ranked above the Tigers going into the tournament.

Senior Avery Kiser took 28th place at only 14 strokes over par, followed by sophomore Sharla Cloutier at 38th place and senior Meg Nakamura at 51st.

Rain, rain go away.

The tournament was hosted by the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fl. Though competition was scheduled for three days, it only took place on Friday and Saturday. Heavy rain forced Thursday's round to be moved to Friday.

"The first day was really wet," Nakamura said. "It was just a long day. 36 holes with 21 teams is almost unheard of in college golf."

Though Friday was a long day, Princeton capitalized on its experience at previous tournaments of playing two rounds in one day.

"I talked to a friend from Duke who said it was her first time playing two rounds in one day ... whereas we actually did better the second round," Cloutier said.

Indeed, despite a soggy course and cold conditions in the morning, the Tigers managed to finish Friday in 11th, only three strokes away from the last transfer spot.

On Saturday, though, the Princeton squad did not display its best play. The Tigers knew that their spot at the finals was on the line, and though they pushed aggressively to make eighth place, their shots could not find the hole.

"We struggled to close out the third round of the tournament, which hurt our chances for qualifying for the finals," Kiser said. "Had we been able to play a good third round, we probably could have made it [to NCAA finals]."

In a year where wind has played a definite factor at some tournaments, Saturday was surprisingly calm and sunny. One variable that did influence play in the third round struggle, however, was the length of the course. After it was shortened on Friday to get in two rounds, tournament officials lengthened it to 6,000 yards at par 70 rather than 5,800 yards at par 72. With some holes stretching across 400 yards, Princeton had to resort to unfamiliar strategies to get the extra distance.

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"We tried to press a little bit too much," Cloutier said. "We were just playing a little too hard."

Though the team will graduate three seniors this year, its hopes remain strong in the presence of talented underclassmen and two incoming recruits — one of whom is ranked among the top 30 national junior players.

"The key to next year is going to be consistency," Kiser said. "If the girls are able to play well throughout all rounds of the tournament, they definitely have the talent and capability to make the finals."

Cloutier said that one of the things the team needs to improve next year is its mental game.

"We now have a little more confidence that we can play with the top national teams, not just the Ivy league teams," she said. "We're going to need to step it up next year."