Womens golf showcases young team at opening tournaments

Courtesy of UT Athletics

Sam Williams, Co-associate sports editor

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If you look at any professional sports team, one of the most important figures before, during and after competition is the veteran player. Someone on the team who has been there before and knows what to do and how to do it. Someone who is able to impart that knowledge on younger players to better help them grow into their role on the team.

As important as these players, with decade-spanning careers, are for your favorite pro team, the veteran player is seemingly an endangered species for collegiate teams. When your star athlete is done with their classes, they are done with their team, and you’re forced to rebuild around what you can gather.

This problem is nonexistent for professional sports, as an MVP quarterback is typically lost to an injury, not grad school. So what does a team do when all of the reliable players are suddenly not able to be relied on? You don’t have to go far to find out. The women’s golf team is dealing with this problem now, and they’re taking it in stride.

“I just think it’s been a learning curve” said women’s golf head coach Nicole Hollingsworth. “You lose three of the best players in school history to graduation, try and replace them with basically four new players, and we have eight players on the team, so half of our team is new.”
The young team has no easy task in replacing the three seniors who graduated last summer. Sathika Ruenreong, Morgan Salm and Manisa Isavas carried the Rockets to a record-breaking season just last year, setting the school record with five tournament titles and nearly beating 18-time MAC champions, Kent State.

Now all three players are non-factors in the team’s success. The entire dynamic of the team has changed; three star seniors out, four inexperienced freshman in. Trading experience for potential, the team traveled to Yorktown, Indiana for the first tournament of the year earlier this fall.

Despite this lack of experience, the team didn’t seem to miss a beat. “I was extremely proud of how we played.” says Hollingsworth. “We had a chance of winning, and anytime you’re in contention to win college golf, sure, I would’ve liked to have won that tournament, but to take a brand new team and pick up right where we left off last year was phenomenal.”

Out of 16 teams, the Rockets placed second at the tournament. Sophomores Pinyada Kuvanun (72-73-73/218) and Pimchanok Kawil (74-72-73/219) led the Rockets with top 10 finishes for UT by placing sixth and tied for seventh, respectively. Junior Napaphan Phongpaiboon also finished impressively with a career-best score of 71 to tie for 19th place at 10-over par total 226 (82-73-71).

The team made their next trip all the way out to Red Sky Golf Club in Vail, Colorado. “With Vail, you’re competing against some of the best teams in the country, and it’s the hardest golf course we see,” commented Hollingsworth. “I wasn’t happy with how we played the first day; the second day we played good 15 out of 18 holes, and the last day we played phenomenal.”

Sophomore Pimchanok Kawil tied a school record on day three with a score of five-under par 67, and sophomore Pinyada Kuvanun and junior Napaphan Phongpaiboon also registered their best round of the tournament on day three. Kuvanun shot a three-over par 75 to finish tied for 52nd place, and Phongpaiboon recorded a two-over par 74 to tie for 75th place.

After an impressive start to the year for the young team and spending many hours traveling, how did the team spend their fall break? By traveling to Catawaba Island, Ohio and practicing some more.

There, the girls played practice rounds at the Catawaba Island Club in preparation for the upcoming Rocket Classic. “Catawaba Island Club is an Arthur Hill-designed golf course, so it’s trickier than it looks, and…anytime you can play it, it just gives you an edge,” said Coach Hollingsworth.

When asked about the expectations for the young team at the Rocket classic, Coach Hollingsworth said, “I hope we win. We put a lot of work into hosting the tournament for these Midwest teams. We’ve won every Rocket classic we’ve ever had, but the way a college golf tournament is, it’s not easy. We have a lot of good teams coming this year, and what’s going to happen is what’s going to happen.”

So although the departure of three star seniors hurt, the Rocket women are showing that they have the potential to carry on a winning tradition.

The Rocket Classic will take place next Monday and Tuesday all day at Catawaba Island Club.

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Womens golf showcases young team at opening tournaments