University of Minnesota Athletics
WGF: Gophers Ready To Compete for Big Ten Crown
4/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
The Preview
The Golden Gophers travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the 2005 Big Ten Women’s Golf Championships at University of Michigan Golf Course. In head coach Katie Hanneman’s third year in Gold Country, Minnesota won its second tournament since the 2000-01 season and has shown steady improvement all season despite losing one of its top golfers to injury. Junior Sarah Butler broke her ankle during the winter off-season and has only played in one tournament all spring, the Boilermaker Invitational. She will play in the No. 5 spot this weekend for the Maroon and Gold and wear an air cast on her right ankle.
The Gophers have only three upperclassmen on the roster and lose only one senior to graduation after this season. The lineup consists of one senior, two juniors, two sophomores and one true freshman.
The Gophers are led in stroke average by senior Terra Petsinger at 77.0. The senior has led the Gophers for the past three seasons and has three top 10 finishes on the year including her second straight Minnesota Invitational title last fall. Petsinger has not finished out of the top 20 the entire spring. Her lowest finish was a tie for 18th last week at the Lady Boilermaker.
Last Time Out
The University of Minnesota women's golf team finished 13th at the Lady Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind. The Gophers fired their best round of the tournament in round three, a 302, but finished 46 shots behind tournament titleist Michigan. Minnesota carded rounds of 325-317-302=944 (+80) at the par 72, 6,025-yard Kampen Course.
The Gophers were led by senior Terra Petsinger. Petsinger finished tied for 18th at 229 (+13) after carding a 77 today. Sophomore Samantha Braschler recorded the best round of the day for the Maroon and Gold with a 73 in the final round. That moved Braschler up into a tie for 26th at 231 (+15). Minnesota had four rounds in the 70s today including two 76s from Jessica Thomas and Sophie Stubbs. Thomas finished 62nd at 243 and Stubbs finished tied for 63rd at 244. Freshman Emily Brand tied for 65th at 247 and junior Sarah Butler, coming back from injury, tied for 74th at 262.
Big Ten Tournament History
The Golden Gophers have won one Big Ten team title in 1989 and two individual crowns, both by Kate Hughes in 1988 and ’89. Minnesota finished 11th in last year’s Big Ten Championships in Columbus Ohio. The top Gopher finisher was Katie Jacobson who tied for 27th at 29-over 317.