The Eastern Michigan University women’s golf team traveled to Bloomington, Ind., for the Indiana Invitational this past weekend.
The team finished third in the tournament with a score of 53 over par, finishing ahead of the University of Toledo by one stroke.
Indiana University won the tournament, finishing it with a score of 26 over par. The University of Kansas finished in a close second with a score of 29 over par.
The standout player this week was EMU golfer Sarah Johnson. She finished in a tie for third place in the individual standings. She carded three rounds of golf at the tournament: 79, 75 and 69, respectively.
“The round [of 69] started off not so hot,” Johnson said. “I made two pars and a bogey. So after three holes, I was in the hole already and I had been hitting the ball way better than the day before, so I was a bit discouraged.”
After that, she decided that it was time to calm down her game and clear her head.
“The next hole, after the bogie, I hit a great approach shot and made a fifteen footer for birdie,” she said. “This put me back to even and gave me a lot of confidence.”
Eagles golfer Corey Crossan finished one stroke behind Johnson in a tie for sixth place. Crossan posted scores of 73, 75 and 76, respectively.
Tournament highlights:
• Johnson finished the tournament at 7 over par.
• Crossan finished the tournament at 8 over par.
• Alyssa Kwon finished the tournament in a tie for 31st place with a score of 19 over par.
• Karyn Lee Ping finished the tournament in a tie for 37th place with a score of 21 over par.
• Lois Schoof finished the tournament in a tie for 45th place with a score of 24 over par.
• Rushda Mallick finished the tournament in a tie for 65th place with a score of 31 over par.
• Usanee Laopattananont finished in 80th place with a score of 38 over par.
“The team played well,” Kwon said. “We came in third. It was nice to be the top [Mid-American Conference] team [for the tournament].”
Johnson’s final round score of 69 was the best score for the tournament, and also her lowest score at Eastern to date.
“I made five birdies the whole day, two of them were on par fives,” she said. “Going into my last three holes, I knew where I was at and needed to get three pars to shoot in the 60s.”
Johnson explained how difficult the course was and what that meant for her weekend finish.
“Two out of last three holes are the tightest fairways on the course, but I managed to hit beautiful drives and approach shots,” Johnson said. “On the last hole, all I had left was a three footer for par. I’m not going to lie, I was shaking over this putt. But I took a deep breath and luckily hit it hard enough to go in the hole.”
This tournament marked the end of the regular season for the team, which is off until April 26 when it will travel to Nashport, Ohio, to begin the MAC championship.
