The Wisconsin women's golf team began its 2008-09 season earlier this week at the Cougar Classic in Hanahan, S.C. The 66th-ranked Badgers finished 14th in a field of 22 teams.
The Badgers competed with five participants: senior Isabel Alvarez, juniors Kelsey Verbeten and Heather Herrick, sophomore Carly Werwie and freshman Jessie Gerry.
Last season, Verbeten showed potential with UW's third-lowest scoring average while playing all 32 rounds. At the Cougar Classic, Verbeten had another solid performance. She shot two over par for the tournament and tied for 19th overall. Verbeten also had the best UW score in each of the tournament's three rounds. Verbeten had eight birdies throughout the tournament, including four in the opening round. This round was her best finish at 71 and one under par.
Herrick tied for 55th place, shooting 12 over par. She struggled in the tournament's first two rounds, shooting five over par and six over par, respectively, but turned it around with a solid one over par in the Cougar Classic's third round.
Close behind Herrick was senior Isabel Alvarez, who finished 66th with a 14 over par. Alvarez played her best golf in the first two rounds, shooting two over and three over par, respectively.
Werwie finished 20 over par and 85th overall. She shot seven over par in the first round, followed by a eight and five over par in the second and third rounds.
Gerry saved her best golf for the final round, shooting five over par. She overcame a double bogey on the eighth hole for a final score of 77, tied for second best on the Badgers.
Wisconsin was the Cougar Classic's only Big Ten participant. UW's 44 over par finish was largely attributed to a weak second round, when the Badgers shot a 307, 28 strokes behind the leader Georgia. UW's second round was more than five strokes behind its first and third round scores.
Georgia won the Cougar Classic at six under par overall. The Bulldogs' top golfer was Marta Silva, who finished third overall, also at six under par. Teammate Mallory Hetzel was right behind Silva at five under par.
Caroline Westrup of Florida State University finished first at 10 under par. Westrup's final round was her best, shooting six under par with six birdies and no bogies through 18 holes. Westrup had just two bogies in the entire tournament, but Florida State University could not pull out the victory, finishing fifth.
The Badgers will return home to Madison for the Badger Invitational. The tournament will be held at University Ridge from Sept. 27-28.
- uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
