By GREG GIAUQUE
The BYU women’s golf team looks to log some important link hours and gain valuable experience when it heads to the Northwest Invitational in Corvallis, Ore., on Saturday.
Oregon State hosts the 13-team tournament that starts Monday. The BYU men’s golf team played the same course last week and placed fourth among other men’s teams.
The preseason polls have not been errant much of the time, and BYU has had difficulty beating some of the top 25 teams, many of which will be at the Northwest. Regional rivals California, Washington, Pepperdine, Oregon and Oregon State will all be hunting for a tournament title.
Coach Gary Howard said this competition will be critical in terms of regional team standings.
“To maintain our hopes for regionals, it would be nice to knock off Berkeley and Pepperdine,” Howard said.
Deciding who to send to tackle the task is another tough issue. Senior Jaime Stevenson and freshman Carrie Summerhays have had steady rounds and qualified early for the travel team. Summer Fenstermaker also qualified with some solid play this week. But the other BYU golfers have all carded similar scores, making decisions tough for Howard.
“We’re trying to decide who to bring. At this point, gaining experience is very important,” Howard said. “We’ve seen some real low, good scores; and we’ve seen some real bad, high scores, sometimes by the same people.”
Assistant coach Sue Nyhus, recent winner of a head-to-head Utah/Arizona title and BYU alumnus, is her usual optimistic self.
“I think we’re going to go have a fun tournament,” Nyhus said.
The BYU squad is young, and Howard has played a variety of golfers in search of the right combination. Six of the eight golfers are underclassmen and four are freshman. Jaime Stevensen is the only senior.
A strong third round at the Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., Sept. 26 has been a high point already this season. Highlighted on the team information board among other tournament stats is the 301 it shot that Saturday. Only two other teams beat BYU that day. Howard and Nyhus hope the team can carry that kind of play through the semester into the spring season.
