Women’s golf beats semester stroke average at Arkansas tournament

The Wichita State’s women’s golf team finished in seventh place out of 15 teams Tuesday at the Little Rock Golf Classic in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas.  

Seniors Meghan Schuetz and Bryce Schroeder led the team on the scorecard with an eighth (72-74-75-221) and 15th place (73-75-75-223) finish, respectively. This was Schuetz’s first top-10 placing for the season and Schroeder’s second top-20 finish.

The Shockers also broke a record as a unit with the conclusion of the team’s fall season, scoring a stroke average of 300.9 for the semester, the best semester average in the program’s history.

“The overall feeling of the fall semester is great,” head coach Tom McCurdy said. “I’m very proud of the girls this semester.”

McCurdy said the downfall for the team during this tournament was predominately the putting.

“Friday night they got two-and-a-half inches of rain so we didn’t have a practice round Saturday and the greens were rough and bumpy,” McCurdy said. “We had some double bogeys [caused by putting], which is something we haven’t done a lot this year.”

McCurdy said the three-week break the team had between tournaments diminished some of the women’s momentum.

“Throughout the fall we got momentum and progressively got better, but the girls got tired and stressed because of school,” McCurdy said. “Three weeks off of competition deflated us.”

McCurdy said the spring season tournament spacing is ideal and similar to what they have seen the past several years.

“I’m pretty optimistic,” he said. “We’re having individual meetings this week with the girls, and I know they’ll go home and work hard.”

The Shockers are due back in action Feb. 26 through 28 in Rio Verde, Arizona, for the Rio Verde Invitational, hosted by Western Michigan University.

“We just need to make sure everyone peaks at the right time,” McCurdy said.