Golf places 19th at Citrus Challenge during hectic schedule
Central Michigan golf continued its busy month when the team traveled to Sorrento, Florida to take part in the MSU Citrus Challenge.
CMU finished the event in 19th place out of 20 teams with a total score of 982, 35 strokes behind 18th-place Northern Kentucky.
Sophomore Natalie Johnson led the Chippewas for the second consecutive tournament with a score of 236 to tie for 67th place out of 118 players. Johnson shot a 74 in the final round on Tuesday, tying her career best round as a Chippewa.
“I was putting well in the final round, I made a couple good par putts. I was hitting my irons well, I hit 14 greens (in regulation), which was the best I’ve ever done,” said Johnson.
After starting the tournament off with an opening round of 77, Johnson carded an 85 on day two. This was a common trend among the team, as none of the Chippewas were able to shoot in the 70’s on Monday.
“We need to avoid the big numbers. If we could put bogies in place of the doubles and triples, they would shoot in the 70’s,” said Head Coach Cheryl Stacy.
Stacy said the team’s struggles have been on the tee, where they have been hitting balls into unplayable lies and having to take penalty shots.
“I’d like to get off to a better start the first round and try to get more focused like we were after the first round of last tournament. Having the goal of having a personal best round has really seemed to help, especially with Natalie (Johnson),” Stacy said.
CMU has been on the road for most of this month. The team traveled to Arizona over spring break, where they played practice rounds and eventually competed in the Clover Cup at Longbow Golf Club.
After returning from Arizona, the Chippewas headed south to Florida to compete in the Citrus Challenge, which concluded on Tuesday. The team returned to Mount Pleasant on Wednesday afternoon and will leave to go to Stockbridge, Georgia to compete in John Kirk/Panther Intercollegiate on Friday.
“It’s been hard, it’s hard to keep up with classes but you just have to get ahead. It’s been okay though,” Johnson said.
After the Chippewas return from Georgia, Stacy plans to give the team a few days off to recuperate and practice on their own.
The John Kirk/Panther Intercollegiate is a three-day event that begins on Sunday at Eagle’s Landing Country Club.
