Women’s golf team rolls through field

Women’s golf coach Mike Morrow knew his team stood a pretty good chance of winning its tournament this weekend. What he wasn’t expecting was how the Flashes did so.

The No. 13 Flashes blew out the rest of the 12-team field at the Lady Buckeye Spring Invitational at The Scarlet Course in Columbus, scoring 21-over-par to win by 28 strokes.

“The win is not surprising at all for us,” Morrow said. “I don’t want to sound cocky, but we were the top-rated team in the field coming into it. But to win going away like that is a compliment to how good we are because that golf course is a great test of golf.”

The tournament win is the team’s first of the spring and came after the Flashes had a four-week layoff between tournaments. They last played competitively at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic from March 21 to 23.

“We were excited to come to this tournament,” senior Kira Meixner said. “We had three weeks off, and I think we were kind of itching to go again.”

Meixner led the team by finishing in third place at 3-over-par. Four other Flashes finished in the top 20 of the tournament: junior Kirby Dreher (fourth), senior Tara Delaney (sixth), junior Maddi Swaney (tied for 12th) and freshman Martina Gavier (tied for 20th).

“Everyone contributed, and I think their golf course management was exceptional this week,” Morrow said. “The ball striking and short game really came together also. When those three things come together, you’re going to have success.”

The Flashes led after all three rounds, and their lead got continually larger. They led by six strokes after the first round and 10 after the second, which were both played Saturday.

But the team saved its best performance for yesterday’s final round, outscoring second-place Ohio State by 18 shots to leave no doubt about which team would win.

“The players just went out and played the golf course the same (yesterday) as they did (Saturday),” Morrow said. “I think they knew how they thought they should play the course, and they stuck with their game plan.

“Obviously, they played very well. They were comfortable with the golf course, and they didn’t do anything different (yesterday).”

This weekend’s tournament kicks off the stretch run for the women’s team, which has finished in the top five in every tournament it has played this season.

The Flashes will leave Wednesday for the Mid-American Conference Championships, which begins Friday.

“MACs are always something that we really look forward to,” Meixner said. “It’s four rounds, and we’re just going to go in there planning to play our best golf and try to win there.”

Contact sports reporter Doug Gulasy at [email protected].