After eliminating one round of play due to incessant rain and poor conditions at University Ridge golf course, round one of the first-ever Wisconsin women’s Badger Invitational was completed Saturday.

Wisconsin senior Malinda Johnson led the pack, shooting 72 for par. Chasing her for the lead after the first round were Michigan State’s Allison Fouch and Sarah Martin and Purdue’s Beth Hermes, all of whom were one over par at 73. Badger freshman Nicki Morse tied for sixth place after the first round by shooting a 77. Another UW freshman, Taryn Rechlicz placed 28th with an 84. Rounding out the rest of the Badger field were sophomore Jill Ries and junior Jackie Obermueller, shooting 87 and 89 respectively. After the first round of play, Michigan State led the team standings, with Wisconsin sixth.

In the second and final round of the tournament Sunday, Johnson duplicated her first-round score of 72. Michigan State’s Fouch improved her score by two strokes, shooting a 71 to tie Johnson with 144 and force a sudden-death playoff to determine the individual champion. Both shot for par on the first hole, but Fouch birdied the second to edge Johnson’s even par for the title.

Morse improved her first-round score by two strokes and finished seventh overall in the tournament with a 77-75-152. Ries and Obermueller both knocked off eight strokes from the previous round, with Ries tying for 30th (87-79-166) and Obermueller coming in 34th (89-81-170). Taryn Rechlicz finished the Invitational with an 84-88-172.

As a team, Wisconsin shaved off 13 strokes to surpass Northwestern and Arkansas-Little Rock, finishing third overall (320-307-627). Michigan State won the team competition (303-305-608), with Purdue (309-310-619) coming in second. Northwestern (629) and Arkansas-Little Rock (640) rounded out the top-five team finishers.

First-year Badger coach Todd Oehrlin was impressed with the team’s success in the first tournament of the year.

“They hung in there despite terrible conditions,” he said. “We have a team that has a lot of potential. It is a very young group, though, but I think we will be really competitive throughout the season.”

Oehrlin is the successor to Dennis Tiziani, who retired after 14 years on the job. The Badgers hope to experience the same success they enjoyed a year ago. That year saw Wisconsin earn its first NCAA tournament appearance as a team. Its subsequent 24th-place finish leaves high expectations for 2003. Johnson, who finished 55th individually in last year’s national tournament, believes the team’s work ethic will get it back to that level.

“We have a lot of talent on our team, and we’re pretty deep,” she said. “I think we can go as far as we’re willing to work. I hope to make it to nationals again.”

Oehrlin is no stranger to success. He led the UW-Eau Claire men’s golf team to a win at the 2001 NCAA Division III Championship tournament. Overall, Eau Claire advanced to the NCAA Division III tournament each of Oehrlin’s six years as coach, including four top-five finishes in the tournament. In 2001, he was named Golfweek Magazine’s NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year.

Johnson hopes that Oehrlin can accomplish with the UW women what he did with the Blugolds.

“Last year we went to nationals, and if we work hard, I think we can make it a tradition of going every year,” he said.

The Badgers’ next chance to prove their potential will be this weekend at the Fossom Invitational, hosted by Michigan State.