While all of Massachusetts mourned the bitter loss of the Boston Red Sox, the Boston University women’s golf team teed it up at the Hofstra Fall Classic in New York this past weekend.
The two-day tournament featured 11 teams on the Bethpage State Park Blue Course, just a pitching wedge away from the site of the 2002 U.S. Open, held at Bethpage’s Black Course. Each team had five players competing while the top four scores from each team were tallied to form the team score.
The first day was one to forget. The windy fall weather was symbolic of the Terriers’ moods, as their minds seemed to be swept up with things other than golf.
‘There were so many other things going on,’ said junior Nicole Schiffer. ‘We knew we all had the potential to do well, but we had trouble getting in the zone.’
BU shot a combined 348, an average of 87 15 over par. But despite finishing seventh after day one, the Terriers only trailed second-place Long Island University by 10 strokes.
‘I showed them the stat sheet,’ said BU coach Cammy Landry. ‘I said ‘Hey, we can catch some of these teams.”
After the team had a two-hour discussion of just what had happened the first day, the Terriers were motivated and ready to compete on the second day.
‘We just told everyone to focus more,’ said sophomore Brenna Gibson. ‘We just told them to focus on each shot take it one step at a time. Most of all, we just said that we have to get in a pattern and just avoid negative thinking.
‘We also didn’t stay up to watch the Red Sox lose to the Yankees,’ Gibson added jokingly.
In a sport where thinking too much can be detrimental to a player’s performance, junior captain Leah Johnson told her team to ‘play out of your mind.’
‘She just told us to go out there and have fun to be confident with your game and just find that groove,’ Schiffer said. ‘We all support each other and we all knew that we just had to go out and play.’
The Terriers followed their leader and left everything they had on the green. Gibson, who shot an 87 on the first day, improved by five strokes and finished with a total of 169. Schiffer improved drastically, following up her day-one 90 with a 79 on the final day. Three Terriers finished with a combined total of 169, the other being Johnson.
The women put the past behind them, and made a miraculous comeback to finish fifth with a score of 688. BU came within two strokes of the third-place Long Islanders (686).
‘We basically rocked,’ Landry said. ‘We don’t usually improve much on the second day, but we did a lot better this tournament.’
St. Francis University won in a landslide, finishing with a two-day score of 650, 22 strokes ahead of second-place Columbia University.
‘I was afraid of St. Francis and Columbia,’ Landry said. ‘They both have good reputations.’
Throughout the course of the season, the women did not demonstrate a consistent spot there was no way to determine who would finish in which position each time out. However, that bit of inconsistency did not worry Landry.
‘I knew the players I was taking had demonstrated consistency,’ Landry said. ‘In this sport, everyone was a bad day, and these girls have it one out of 10. There is underlying consistency.’
This was evidenced by Schiffer, who finished last at the Bryant Invitational, then tied for first on the team at the Hofstra Invitational. Schiffer finished the back nine at par 36.
‘I expected it,’ Landry said. ‘Last meet she shot an 83, and I could just tell she was getting close. I could tell from her practicing that her mind was ready for it and she has really gained confidence.’
The Terriers looked like a different team. With one fell swoop, the lackluster pack turned into powerful machines, each fulfilling their duty, and having fun along the way.
‘It really helped to talk about it,’ Gibson said. ‘We just decided to forget the first day, and move on to a new one a clean slate.’
The tournament could be summed up as a success. The complete turn-around of the team had Landry gleaming.
‘I was very happy with this,’ Landry said. ‘I can’t wait to go back to Bethpage next year. It was truly a great way to end the season.’