The Fall season came to a close for our team at the 2010 MAC Preview last week. It was another great tournament for us and it was especially memorable for junior Hanna Ek who won her first ever collegiate individual title!
I have so many thoughts on this tournament on a professional and personal level...
First of all, it was great for us to go down to Longaberger and do a "dry run" of the MAC W. Golf Championship that we will host in April 2011. I didn't think the MAC Preview went very smoothly as it could have. The first round, the tees were not set to the ones that we played during the practice round. There were significant differences on certain holes, but for the most part it made the course set up shorter and a little easier. I was certainly embarrassed throughout the day and angry at myself for not making sure this was taken care of from the start! The next day the tees were put back in the correct positions, but I do think this mistake will be a helpful thing in the long run. I did a hole-by-hole comparison over the different yardages and found some interesting statistics and it will lead to changes that will make the Championship more enjoyable, yet still competitive when April rolls around.
The team and I all laughed at the tee mistake. They had a great attitude about it honestly. The quote I kept hearing from them was, "Well...everyone had to play the same golf course!". I think their positivity was great for me as well as their golf games! It really showed in our score during the first round. We came out with a great round on a tough course and put ourselves in position to win the event! Hanna Ek came out of the gate quick with the only under par round shot in the whole tournament!
She played simple golf...hitting fairways, greens, draining putts and of course, starting the day birdie, birdie, birdie always helps! In the end, it gave her a 3 shot lead over some of the best players in our conference! I know she was super nervous the second day. She had the opposite start the 2nd round...bogeying her first three holes. And despite that tough start she finished strong and came away with the win! Hanna is one of those people that has her own way of doing things. She works very hard on certain aspects of her game and she also works hard with her academics. The girl can win a college event AND have a 3.9 GPA in Mechanical Engineering...quite an accomplishment I must say!
Kristen Hill also played very consistent both days shooting two 76s. She gave her own teammate a run for the title, but no one was happier for Hanna than Kristen herself! It was a proud moment for me to see Kristen and the rest of the team congratulating Hanna :).
So, with the stellar play of Hanna and Kristen, the team finished 2nd. We made a run at Western Michigan who has had a tremendous Fall season. We beat three teams that were ranked better than us going into the event...that helps our head-to-head ranking and our confidence for Spring. Ending on a positive note will be helpful for us heading into the off-season.
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