By Meredith Majakey
The Cougars aimed high and finished second in the 2001 Pioneer Highlands Ranch Intercollegiate Women”s Golf Tournament in Denver on Tuesday, September 25.
The Cougars found themselves only five strokes behind first place University of Denver Pioneers, scoring 307 for the final round.
Head coach Sue Nyhus said her team was strong and impressive.
“The effort was really steady today, all day,” Nyhus said. “It was really nice to watch.”
The Pioneers placed first with a combined score of 599, BYU with a score of 604 and Colorado State scored 606 to grab third place.
Nyhus also said the Pioneer”s course presented some team challenges.
“The golf course played more difficult today and it caused a lot of frustration amongst her players,” Nyhus said. “The pins were in some very difficult spots that were very hard to putt and difficult to hit to. The greens were just tricky to read.”
Fourteen teams played on the par-72 course.
Nyhus said the team is going to try harder to perfect its game.
“We are going to continue to focus on our short game,” Nyhus said. “Our team is striking the ball very well, so the sharper we make the short game the easier it is for them to score.”
Carrie Summerhays, a senior from Heber, said she is pleased with the way the team played and her own performance.
“I think overall I played well and I hope to improve in all areas of my game,” Summerhays said. “I hope to improve my mental game more than anything.”
Nicole Newren, a sophomore from Salt Lake, said she needs more work on lowering her score.
“My game was a little off, and I think it was because I was thinking too much,” Newren said. “I finished in the top ten, but today it could have been better. That”s how golf is, it”s up and down every day.”
Individually, Carrie Summerhays finished second with a score of one over par and Nicole Newren scored six over par for ninth place.
As the team begins practice this week, it is already focusing on the next big tournament, a three day competition starting October 8.
Newren”s focus will be to fix the problems she had in Denver.
“I”m going to work on my approach shots by getting my shots onto the green,” Newren said. “I”m going to focus a lot on chipping, putting and my short game.”
