The Wisconsin women’s golf team returned to the site of some of its greatest successes for the Legends Shootout in Franklin, Ind. While the great success of the past wasn’t in the cards, a solid eighth-place finish was.

The Badgers shot a final round 307, their lowest of the tournament, en route to a score of 929 (309-313-307). The mark was just three strokes behind seventh place Toledo (926), but 28 strokes behind winners Notre Dame (901).

The 929 was just one stroke behind their season 54-hole best 928 which was shot two weeks ago in the Mary Fossum Invitational.

The story for Wisconsin was the continued improvement of its young golfers who are trying to replace departed star Malinda Johnson.

The top finisher for the Badgers was one of those freshmen, Katie Elliot. After hanging around the top of the leaderboard throughout the first two rounds, Elliot finished in 11th place amongst the individual competitors. Her 228 (76-74-78) was the best score of her young career, but left her six strokes behind medalist Megan Godfrey of Illinois.

The other freshman, Mayumi Kobayashi, also played the best golf of her career during the Legends Shootout. Kobayashi who shot a 238 (76-85-77), improved on her 35th place position after the first two rounds to finish in 28th place. The 28th-place finish was far and away her best finish of the season.

Wisconsin’s most consistent golfer of the year, junior Lindsay McMillan, finished tied for 14th after shooting a career best final round 72. Her overall score of 230 (77-81-71) was her best 54-hole score of this season.

The low scores shot by the women during the Legends Shootout should come as no surprise, as this tournament has historically been a place where Wisconsin has had great success.

Many of UW’s records were set on the golf course over the past few seasons. The team scoring records were all set in 2001, as the team shot the best 18-hole (289), 36-hole (605) and 54-hole (879) scores in school history. That group featured Emily Hendricks who shot a 215 (71-70-74) that day to set the Badgers’ 54-hole record. Hendricks finished third in that tournament while Wisconsin finished second as a team.

Malinda Johnson, who finished in fourth during that 2001 tournament, came back the following year and produced the best 18-hole performance in Wisconsin history as she shot a 66, besting her own record by three strokes.

–compiled from staff reports