Sept. 21, 2015
Jonathan Toman
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It’s the third year for the women’s golf program, and head coach Sadie Farnsworth thinks that can make all the difference this season.
The Mountain Lions finished fourth at the first RMAC event of the fall Sept. 14-15 in Longmont, part of a trend of higher finishes Farnsworth hopes to continue through next spring’s RMAC Championship.
Farnsworth explained that the Mountain Lions held the lead in the tournament through the fi rst day, but faltered in the last four holes, falling to seventh before day two.
“The kids were battling shot by shot, they really, really played well,” she said. “We had to have a little heart-to-heart with everybody (after the first round).”
“On Tuesday they came out ready to go and ready to fight and they fought all the way back up to fourth place.”
Sophomore Alex Darwin, whose fourth place finish in Longmont was the best of her career, understands the impact summer practice can have on the fall season.
“Over the summer we all just put a lot of time into our game, and you can see that little things have improved and we’re getting better,” she said.
“I think it showed that we’re a really good team. We didn’t even play our best (in the second round).”
“Moving forward, we’re going to have more success.”
The five returning players are getting a better understanding of how to approach the season, Farnsworth said.
“We’re just gapping into experience,” she said. “We’re just getting some kids that have been here long enough that they know what’s going on, they’re starting to figure it out and they’re understanding how to compete.”
The key for the team, according to Farnsworth, is to put two solid days of competition together.
“As we’ve seen it, they’ll have one OK day and one really good day and I think as the season goes along, I think we’re going to start to see more day one and day two both being really good scores.”
While Farnsworth said it will be a “fight” to catch Colorado Mesa and win the RMAC, tournaments in the fall like the first RMAC tournament help weight the teams for spring tournaments. The ranking determines the schools you play with, and Farnsworth would like to see her team in the top three schools.
“I think that’s the best opportunity for us to play well is if we get to compete against one and two,” she said. “So it’s those tournaments that are the most important that we do well.”
Teamwork is the biggest change Farnsworth has seen since she started coaching.
“It is an individual sport unfortunately, so they do have to compete against each other to travel, but they’re starting to help each other and be more of a team,” Farnsworth said.
“There’s no traditions that most teams have that they carry on,” Darwin said. “We kind of have to build our own, and that’s really cool, but it’s also a little bit challenging at first.”
“It’s getting there, I mean it’s not perfect yet but we have a better plan and a better approach,” Farnsworth said.
The remaining fall schedule for the Mountain Lions includes the National Championship Preview Sept. 28-29 in Aurora, Colo. and RMAC #2 Oct. 12-13 in Albuquerque, N.M.