The women’s golf team finished in 13th place at the Windy City Collegiate Classic in Wilmette, Ill., on Tuesday, with a team score of 891.
The team finished behind three Big Ten opponents in Northwestern, Purdue and Ohio State, but was ahead of Wisconsin.
“I think we had times where we played well,” head coach Michele Redman said. “We didn’t start out well the first round, and I think that’s what hurt us more than anything. You can tell by the scores the course played more difficult [Tuesday]. ”
Sophomore Heather Ciskowski was the Gophers’ top performer. Ciskowski tied for 19th individually with a score of 215. The Illinois native was playing in her home state and had family attending the tournament.
“The field was obviously very difficult,” Ciskowski said. “So I knew going into it that I would have to shoot pretty low in order to compete, but I was impressed with my result.”
Another Gophers highlight was freshman Muyu Wu. Wu shot a 226 and tied for 61st overall, which was third on the Gophers. The freshman did not play in the previous tournament after struggling with her swing last week.
“We’ve been working hard on [Wu’s] short game,” Redman said. “She’s getting better. She’s a very good ball striker.”
Despite their low finish, the Gophers improved their score from last year at the same tournament, when they finished with a 904.
“We’re not that far off. This is a very good field,” Redman said. “This will be the toughest field we play all year, maybe even tougher than the NCAA finals.”
Men take third at Yale
The men’s golf team finished in third place at the Macdonald Cup at Yale University over the weekend after only completing two rounds due to weather conditions.
The team was led by senior Jon DuToit’s second-place finish, and Minnesota had a score of 580 as a team.
“I tried to not really let the weather get to me,” DuToit said. “I know it’s easier said than done. I just tried to continue to play it one shot at time and tried to not let a bad shot or bad break get to me because it’s weather like that that can cause a struggle, and some people are going to have bad attitudes.”
DuToit posted a 72 in the first round but came back with a 67 in the second round, which tied his personal best for a round with the Gophers. It was a bounce-back performance for the senior after not being named to the travel team the previous week.
“I played pretty well this summer, and it was just a tough weekend at [the Gopher Invitational], and I wasn’t able to travel the next tournament,” DuToit said. “I just tried to keep my hat up, continue to have a positive attitude, and I think it certainly helped at Yale. [I] had a lot of fun and enjoyed the course.”
Overall, the Gophers were third out of the 15 teams in the field, finishing eight strokes behind Stirling University and 12 strokes behind Harvard University.
“We’re getting closer,” junior Grady Meyer said. “No doubt we’ll play well the next couple events.”
