As the Midwestern weather heats up, the Wisconsin women’s golf team heads into postseason play this weekend looking to build on some strong performances. The squad will compete in the Big Ten Championships beginning Friday at the Penn State Golf Courses in University Park, Pa.
Head coach Todd Oehrlein says his team is ready to head east and compete on a fine golf course after a solid regular reason.
“We’re excited about moving forward,” Oehrlein said. “The golf course … is in very good shape [and] came through the winter great over at Penn State, so we’re looking forward to it.”
Oehrlein says he sees no reason the Badgers shouldn’t go into the championships with high expectations.
“I don’t think a top-half finish is out of the question,” he said. “I think that’s something that is a goal moving forward.”
Last weekend the Badgers finished fifth at the Lady Buckeye Invitational in Columbus. Among the eight participating Big Ten teams, Wisconsin placed fourth. The performance gives the team an indication of where it stands relative to some of its primary competition for this weekend. The Badgers finished behind host Ohio State, Michigan State and Northwestern but ahead of four other Big Ten squads.
The team Oehrlein is most concerned with, however, did not compete in the Lady Buckeye Invitational.
“The favorite going into the tournament would be Purdue right now,” he explained. “Purdue is having an outstanding season. I mean, right now they’re ranked top five in the country.”
The Boilermakers are not the only highly touted group taking the course Friday. Oehrlein is also wary of a strong Michigan State team, though he feels the Badgers are by no means out of their league going up against the Spartans.
“Michigan State has had a great season, and yet we played Michigan State this weekend and were very competitive,” he said. “They got us by six shots, [but] we beat them the final round.”
Three Badgers placed in the top 20 individually in Columbus, and the team will rely heavily on them as the postseason gets underway. Freshman Carly Werwie, senior Katie Elliott and sophomore Kelsey Verbeten finished eighth, 12th and 14th, respectively, in the 72-player field.
Elliott shot a 231 (78-76-77) for the three rounds on the par-72. Oehrlein anticipates a particularly strong showing from the Madison native as she competes in the Big Ten Championships for the final time.
“Katie goes into this tournament looking to be the individual medalist,” Oehrlein said. “That’s something that she’ll work hard on this week, and she’ll come in, and she’ll be prepared.”
Ultimately, however, Oehrlein says it will take contributions from every athlete for the Badgers to achieve their goal.
“We need to be six strong, and we need to have balance and depth, and really no one player or two players are probably going to carry the team forward,” he said. “We have to have that kind of consistency and that kind of balance.”
