Despite Head Coach Velvet Milkman’s hopes to advance after its first 36 holes of golf at the Cardinal Cup, the women’s golf team finished Tuesday in the same sixth-place spot it found itself after day one.
After the first day, the Racers were nine shots out of fourth place. Milkman said she thought they could jump ahead of those teams on Tuesday.
“At our team meeting I told them that I saw a lot of good things,” she said. “We played some really good holes. We also had some mental lapses and left several shots out there.”
After a first-place finish at its own Drake Creek Invitational Tournament last week, Milkman said there were a few factors for her team’s performance at the Cardinal Club Golf Course in Simpsonville, Ky.
“It was a harder golf course, a little better competition and maybe we were not as mentally sharp as we were last week,” she said. “And it was little bit of fatigue playing back-to-back weeks.”
Of the 15 teams competing in the tournament, Murray State was the only OVC school. Host team Louisville took first place, with its B team also claiming a top finish at third place.
Milkman said the reaction from her players showed mixed feelings.
“I think they know they played well at times, but they know they can get better,” she said. “They feel like they have something to prove. They think they can play this golf course better.”
Coming off of a first place overall win last week, senior Delaney Howson finished fourth Tuesday with a score of 217 and was only five strokes behind the overall champion, Laura Restrepo of Louisville.
Freshman Minta Yin had the second-best score for Murray State, tying for 16th place with a score of 225.
Murray State will not see action again until Sept. 30 when the team travels to West Point, Miss., for the Old Waverly Bulldog Invitational.
Story by Mallory Tucker, Contributing writer