(CU Independent graphic/Adam Milner)
No one on her team has played the course at Norman, Okla. before. After this weekend, that will change for coach Anne Kelly and her CU golf team.
“I’ve been there with other teams,” Kelly said. “It’s a very good facility. But in those Midwest areas you never know what kind of weather you’re going to get.”
The forecasters are predicting scattered thunderstorms to hit the Oklahoma University campus early in the weekend.
Rain won’t bother Emily Talley’s game, though. Last month’s Big 12 player of the month said she doesn’t mind what the weather brings.
“I’m actually looking forward to playing in tough conditions,” Talley said. “Last year at Lubbock it was really windy, so I’m just expecting really bad weather conditions.”
The ladies went to Lubbock, Texas for last season’s Big 12 tournament. They tied for 8th place, finishing near the bottom of the pack. That trend continued this year, as the team did not finished above 6th in a tournament until the Indiana Invitational, their last tournament of the season, where they placed 2nd.
Talley lead the Buffs in the tournament last season, finishing 6th individually and earning a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Again this season the sophomore leads the Buffs into the tournament with her team low (or high in the golf world) average score of 75 per round.
Her coach said she is hoping the team’s successful finish at the Indiana Invitational can ride on into Oklahoma.
“We actually had a chance to win the Indiana tournament,” Kelly said. “Shooting some low scores is always good for confidence and that experience should help us going into the Big 12.”
The Buffs finished six strokes behind the home team Hoosiers at Bloomington. One of the three seniors on the team, Dominique Pytlewski, said her team improved at the Invitational.
“Things started to come together for most of the people on our team,” Pytlewski said. “It’s really just been that we haven’t got everybody going at the same time.”
The fall season began with a last place finish at the Collegiate Match Play Championship in Daytona Beach and it ended with a 14th place out of 18 teams at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown tournament in Nevada.
During the spring season, which began in February, Kelly said the team improved with each tournament.
“The team is continually improving over the course of the year,” Kelly said. “Towards the end of the season they have come on strong and hopefully that’s going to pay off for us.”
The players and their coach said they don’t know what to expect from the course at Norman. For the team of first-time Norman visitors, including Talley, anything could happen at the Big 12 Tournament.
“I haven’t been to Oklahoma yet,” Talley said. “I guess I’m expecting it to be this like farm course; it is Oklahoma.”
Even their senior leader Pytlewski said it would be hard to give a prediction of individual or team scores. It’s all going to depend on that Midwest weather.
“It feels like we could fare a little bit better in this tournament than we have [over the season],” Pytlewski said. “We don’t really know what to expect. I heard there was going to be thunderstorms, so it’s going to be typical Big 12 weather.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Michael Krumholtz at Michael.krumholtz@colorado.edu.
