Author: Alex Nieves
The women’s golf team was hard at work over spring break, competing in two non-league tournaments as they prepare to head back into SCIAC play.
The Tigers started off the week traveling out to Phoenix to play in the Shootout in Arizona hosted by Lewis University. Despite tough, rainy conditions that eventually caused a two-hour delay and ultimately cut the second day of play short by nine holes, the team put in a good showing.
The Tigers shot a first round score of 372, knocking 31 strokes off their first round score in the SCAIC #1 tournament two weeks earlier.
The second day of the tournament, on which the women played 27 of the scheduled 36 holes of match play competition, proved to be one of the bright spots of the Tigers’ performance. Kristin Oberiano (first-year) put in a dominant performance, winning her match 5 and 3, and the squad forced a tiebreaker with Lewis University to determine third and fourth place overall. Lewis eventually squeaked past the Tigers, but head coach Andrew Larkin was still very pleased with his team’s play.
“To go into a [Division II] tournament and keep up was a good feeling for the team,” Larkin said. “We tied the host school in the match play portion of the tournament on day two, which was a nice accomplishment.”
The top individual performance for Occidental came from its number one golfer and consistent high finisher, Katie Park (junior). Park put together a first round 77 and a second round 38, good for a tie in the third place spot. Larkin had high praise for Park and had no doubts that if the round had not been rained out, she would have won.
The team had very little time to reflect on its performance, hitting the road to play in the Augustana Spring Fling Invite four days later.
The Tigers faced the high temperatures of the Palm Springs desert and a very challenging Classic Club Golf Course, which features water on 13 of 18 holes. The difficult layout of the course definitely came into play, as at times the young Tigers squad seemed to lack confidence and made poor shots.
“Mentally it was draining because you had to hit the perfect shot,” Park said. “I think that’s something we need to work on as a team, trust our swing and just go for the shot, instead of hesitating.”
A few stray shots aside, the team was able to battle through the daunting course, producing good individual performances and finishing ahead of both Whittier College and Pomona-Pitzer. Both of these SCIAC rivals were the only other Division III teams competing in the tournament except for host school Augustana College.
Park was able to tally a total score of 164 for the two days, good for a 14th place, and Oberiano shot a 171, putting her just outside of the top 20. First-years Ella Inman and Hana Mizuno rounded out the scoring for the Tigers, hitting 207 and 231, placing them in 37th and 38th, respectively.
While Larkin is still looking for more out of his team, he was encouraged by its play over the week and feels that the women are in a good position moving forward.
“The results could have been a little better, but we were pretty good overall,” he said. “Given the tough conditions, hard courses, travel and large amount of rounds in a short time, the women handled themselves well and laid a great foundation for the second half of the season.”
With non-conference tournaments officially in the books for the 2013 campaign, the Tigers get back into SCIAC competition on April 6-7, joining the men’s team at the SCIAC #2 tournament hosted by Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks.
The teams then finish off the regular season at the SCIAC Championships on April 27-29.
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