Golf team finishes last at MAC Championships, shoots 94 over par
For the second consecutive season, the Central Michigan golf team finished in 10th place at the Mid-American Conference Championships.
CMU improved by 81 strokes compared to its results a season ago, but was unable to improve its place in the standings.
“The overall scores for the tournament were pretty low,” said Head Coach Cheryl Stacy. “They’ve gotten a lot better since last year, but they were still at the bottom so that shows we still have to do more work and get better.”
Leading the way for the Chippewas was sophomore Natalie Johnson, who finished 40th out of 50 players with a final score of 236. The MAC Championship was the third event Johnson was the CMU’s top performer.
Johnson was tied for 19th-place after shooting a 75 on the first day, but couldn't improve on her results during the weekend.
“I improved 21 strokes from last year, so that was a pretty big improvement,” Johnson said. “My putting got a little off on the second and third day, so I just wasn’t making as many putts.”
Sophomore Kristen Wolfe’s score of 237 was second on the team. After shooting an 81 and 80 during the first two days, Wolfe finished with a 76 on Sunday behind a team-high three birdies.
“The first two days, I had a few bad holes and some three-putts. I had 26 putts today, which is pretty good for me and the birdies helped,” Wolf said.
Johnson said CMU’s goal for the tournament was to keep its score for each day around 315 strokes in order to finish in the middle of the field. CMU finished in last place, but had team scores of 317, 321 and 320.
Stacy said she was happy with how her team performed as a whole and was happy to see a significant improvement from last season’s results.
“Overall, I think everyone has improved quite a lot from last year, but we’re still at the bottom,” Stacy said. “The girls know what they have to do, they’re going to play a lot of tournament golf over the summer to prepare for next year.”
To prepare for next year, Wolfe said she wants to work on her chipping and putting in order to keep her scores in the mid-to-low-70s.
“I think we’re going to prove a lot. We’re all very hard workers and want to get a lot better. I’m looking forward to breaking some of the records we broke this year and continuing to get better,” Wolfe said.
No. 13 Kent State finished in first place with a final score of 868 to secure its 18th consecutive MAC Championship. The Golden Flashes took the lead on the second day and held on to win by four strokes over Toledo.
