Coming off of last weekend’s Baylor-Tapatio Springs Invitational held in Boerne, Texas, the UW women’s golf team has barely had any time for a breather. The team will head to Bloomington, Ind., for the Indiana Invitational this weekend, followed by the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind., next weekend.
The team maintained its eighth-place position in the field of 18 at the Tapatio Springs Golf Resort on the final day of the tournament, as junior Lindsay McMillan (81-79-76), together with senior Jackie Obermueller (83-76-77), tied for 24th. Playing under cold, rainy conditions on the course, Wisconsin’s top two finishers on the individual leader board posted some of the top scores in the final 18 holes of the tournament.
Yet, McMillan, a self-professed perfectionist, feels otherwise about her performance.
“I was a little frustrated with it,” McMillan said. “I feel I could have done better. I just made too many mistakes.”
Nevertheless, McMillan knows that highs and lows are inevitable in the game of golf. Instead of dwelling on mistakes, she tries to turn adversities into advantages.
“It helps with character building,” McMillan said. “Everyone’s going to go through [struggles]. It’s how you manage them and learn from your mistakes that determines … how much you’ll improve.”
Second-year head coach Todd Oehrlein says McMillan does just that, rebounding from those pitfalls with quality responses.
“She’s mentally strong and very composed on the golf course,” Oehrlein said. “She’s confident in what she’s doing, and that tends to lead to good golf swings, and, more importantly, better management of the situation when she is not playing her best.”
The pre-med major, who just earlier this month captured her first career Big Ten Golfer of the Week award, has extended her work ethic on the course to her studies as well. Named to the National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Team for two years in a row, she also earned a spot on the Big Ten’s 2003-04 Spring Academic All-Conference Team. Her cumulative grade-point average is just shy of a perfect 4.0.
McMillan has quite a few golf records under her belt as well. She set the 2000 Alberta Junior Girls’ Champion record in Canada, shooting a 54-hole total of 218. She also holds the 2001 Canadian Junior Tour record for 18 holes with a score of 69.
The Calgary, Alberta, native has no qualms about being the only non-American on the Wisconsin roster.
“[My teammates] give me a hard time about [being Canadian],” McMillan said. “But it’s all in good fun. They do a pretty good job trash-talking me, though, I have to admit. We’ve a good time together as a team since we’ve grown so close.”
One can easily see the passion McMillan has in her game. Having picked up the sport from her father, who himself is an avid golfer, she was a mere five years old when she first started showing interest in the game.
“Growing up, I was given a choice of staying home with the babysitter or going out and playing [golf]. So I made the simple decision of going out to play,” McMillan said.
McMillan has certainly come a long way since. One of the most consistent golfers on the team, she has experience, talent and most definitely hard work to thank.
“[McMillan] is consistently improving,” Oehrlein said. “Her short game has gotten a whole lot better, and her putting has improved dramatically. On the whole, her game is pretty balanced, I would say.”
Her season bests include leading the team with a career-best finish at the Fossum Invitational, finishing in a sixth-place tie (76-77-77 — 230) and shooting a career single-round low of 72 during the final round of the Legends Shootout en route to a 14th-place tie (77-81-72). And, more recently, at the “Mo” Memorial Invitational in Cypress, Texas, earlier this month, a sixth-place tie on the individual leader board after entering the final day in the 22nd spot (80-78-76 — 234).
While the rest of the students on campus look to gear up for the last stretch of school, McMillan and the women’s golf team have more on their minds.
After the two invitational tournaments in Indiana over the next two weekends, the team will head down to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the Big Ten Championships (April 22-24). Two weekends later, the Badgers will be back in Texas again for the NCAA Regional (May 5-7) and will end off this season in Eugene, Ore., at the NCAA Championships (May 17-20).