In transitioning between the fall and spring season, the UW women’s golf team has found a way to maintain its consistency. The spring season got off to a strong start with its win at the BYU Entrada Classic, making it the second win this season and sixth victory in school history.

“In the fall, one of our strengths was that we were fairly consistent and we had decent depth, and I have seen the same things show to be true so far this spring. Our strength is really truly in our consistency and our depth. We tend to drive the ball very accurately, keep the ball in play and are a pretty steady golf team most of the time we are out there,” head coach Todd Oehrlein said.

In the BYU Classic, the Badgers were led by redshirt freshman Alexis Nelson, also seeing strong performances by Kris Yoo, Lindsay Danielson, Alyssa Elliot and senior Carly Werwie to push them past Oklahoma State by five strokes for the win.

“I thought I played well; I just had five bad holes the whole tournament that really hurt me. Other than that, I thought I hit the ball really well, and I thought I gave myself really good opportunities to put some low numbers out there. I feel good going into these last couple of tournaments,” Werwie said.

Beyond BYU, Oehrlein has been impressed with the team’s nine tournament rounds of play.

“I’m happy with where we are at given the time of year, but none of that is going to mean anything if we don’t continue to improve, continue to make it better from this point forward, and that has to be our focus,” Oehrlein said.

Although a great start for the team, the girls and coaches are looking forward to the next round of tournament play at the Indiana Invitational starting April 4. The team is banking on continuing its strong play and hard efforts to improve on its early-season play.

“The BYU tournament was an excellent event for us, good competition, good tournament, good field and I was really proud of how we played, but that one is done now, and we kind of just have to move past it and get ourselves ready for the next tournament, ” Oehrlein said.

Despite what the Midwestern weather can bring, Werwie feels the mindset of the team is really good going into the final stretch of the spring season and has full confidence in the team to pull out another victory at Indiana.

“I would say we are fully capable of winning this tournament. It’s a tough course, but I think we see the potential that we have, and we are really excited that it is all starting to click for us,” Werwie said.

Werwie providing veteran leadership

The Badgers are continuing to work towards building a championship caliber level team around young talent.

This year’s squad has only one senior in Werwie, signaling the vast potential the program has moving forward.

“We have a neat group in that I think we have a whole team full of players that are very committed, very dedicated and are all on the same page. Right now, having everybody on the same page with the same goals, has really made a big difference,” Oehrlein said.

Werwie has proven to be a valuable asset to the team given her insight into the game.

“Carly has been a great all around kid for us; she has been a great role model and has just been really helpful to all the younger kids,” Elliot said. “She has worked really hard to get where she is; she is very competitive, and that’s great for the younger kids to see, and she puts a lot of time and effort into everything she has done. We hope to bring in more players like that, that have that competitive drive.”

Despite her senior standing, Werwie admits to feeling no extra pressure of being the senior of the team. She feels she is surrounded by a great group of leaders regardless.

“We get along really well, and it makes it fun; it’s not stressful,” she said.

After building a fun yet competitive environment, the Badgers look forward to continued success throughout the rest of the season and into the future.

“We have a ways to go yet, and I am proud of the way they are working, I am proud of their approach right now. Their practices are productive; they have purpose. It is nice to see progress, but there is a lot of season left,” Oehrlein said.