Teeing It Up with Tulane Women's Golf
Sep 18, 2008 | Women's Golf
Sept. 18, 2008
As any college freshman will tell you, the first few weeks of school is full of new experiences, adjustments, worries, questions and a whole lot of fun. My first week was spent bonding with my new roommate, Lindsay, and my teammates, Sam, Stephanie, Linn, Daniela, and Janine and figuring out where everything was located on campus, and reveling in the fact that I was going to be a student-athlete at Tulane University for the next four years. I had been to my first few days of classes and golf practices when the school and the city of New Orleans were ordered to evacuate because of Hurricane Gustav. The girls and I were disappointed we had to leave when we had only just arrived but we decided to stick together as a team and make the best of the situation.
We began the week at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, and then a few days later our athletic department brought us to Birmingham to tag along with the football team as they prepared for their game against the University of Alabama. Our Athletic Director, Mr. Dickson, and the whole athletic staff made sure we were taken care of and included us in fun activities like bowling and a movie premiere. We even got to watch our boys put up a great fight on the field against the Crimson Tide. As a brand new team of four freshmen and two sophomore transfers, `Hurrication' gave us a great opportunity to really develop our friendships on and off the course. We also had the opportunity to play some phenomenal golf courses because of the hospitality from the people in Jackson and Birmingham.
No sooner had I gotten back on campus and back into a routine when I had to leave again! But this time it was for something I had all been waiting for since signing my National Letter-of-Intent. We were headed to Charleston, South Carolina, for our first tournament of the year, the first tournament of my college career, and the first time Tulane had been represented in a college golf tournament since 2005. With its wide fairways lined with huge River Oaks, large, undulating greens, and a difficult layout, Yeaman's Hall provided a great test for all of the teams that participated in the 2008 Cougar Classic.
As a player, I tend to get nervous the first couple of holes of my rounds (something I'm working on!) and this tournament was no exception. I was 4-over par after my first five holes and then I got into a rhythm and played the next 13 holes 3-under par to finish at 73. Whew! My first college round was a success. I tried not to put a lot of pressure on myself going into this tournament because I hadn't played very well during qualifying but I was very happy with my opening round. The next two days I shot 75 and 72 which was good for a 26th-place finish.
As a team, we had many, many positives come out of the past few days. We finished 10th out of 22 teams and had a different girl step up and shoot our low round each day. Samantha was able to come back from her first round and shoot 73 to lead us Monday. Janine shot our only under-par round of the week on Tuesday with a 70. We improved our place every day, going from 13th to 12th to 10th, and we placed in front of some very established teams. Finally, the best part was that all five of us left a ton of shots out on the golf course and we know just how good we can be as individuals and as a team if we keep practicing hard and working on our games! We get our next chance to compete in the Badger Invitational in Wisconsin in a couple of weeks!
See you on the course!
Ashley
