Women's golf looks for big weekend at Hartford

The third time might be the proverbial charm, but the Yale women's golf team is going for four.

The women hope to maintain their unblemished record and take their fourth title in as many competitions when they travel to Hartford on Sat., Oct. 17 and Sun., Oct. 18 for the ECAC tournament. In each of the Bulldogs' victories, the Hartford Hawks have placed second.

Yale was scheduled to play at the Rutgers Invitational Tournament on Fri., Oct. 9 and Sat., Oct. 10, but decided to forgo it in favor of rest and preparation for the ECACs. Another reason the women decided not to travel to Rutgers was that coach Heather Daly-Donofrio, BK '91, would have been unable to accompany them, as she will be playing at the LPGA Qualifying School in order to retain her tour card.

The players seem to be well on their way to a coveted postseason bid. Led by Chawwadee Rompothong, TC '00, who carded a 151 two-day total to take individual honors, the Bulldogs shot 316 on consecutive days to win the Mount Holyoke Invitational on Fri., Oct.2 and Sat., Oct. 3. "Mt. Holyoke was a big win. We beat Hartford by 21 strokes," team captain Kate Fisher, PC'99, said, "They are our biggest competitor." Yale will meet its in-state rival at both remaining fall tournaments.

Yale's tournament travel team is comprised of five women from the nine-player roster. For each day in the two-day tournaments, the lowest four scores are tallied for the overall score. An expected contributer is rookie Annie Scholz, DC '02, who has missed the past few tournaments while sitting out with an injury. "I'm now able to play. As soon as my ankle holds up in a whole round, I'll hope to qualify [for the ECAC travel squad]," Scholz said. Undoubtedly, however, the biggest freshman contributor to Yale's success this fall has been Sarah Seo, TD '02. Described by Scholz as "pure spunk," Seo has drawn comparisons to South Korean LPGA phenom Se Ri Pak, and closer to home, to standout golfer Natalie Wong, MC '98. "I guess it's kind of cool," Seo said. "Natalie was definitely the standard; to be compared to her is a big honor."

Rachel Brakeman, JE '99, one of the two seniors on the team, remembers the effect of strong upperclassmen such as three-year captain Wong and Charity Barras, MC'98. Last year, led by Wong, the Bulldogs tied for second place at the ECACs with James Madison University; Penn State won the title by 15 strokes.

"We lost four seniors, two of them our top players," Brakeman said, but added that the Class of 2002 has possibly more than filled out the team depth chart. Seo has come in either first or second at the three previous tournaments. "She's definitely replacing one of the top two girls," Brakeman said. "Chawwadee and Kate Fisher have really stepped up, too. Our team is stronger this year if anything."

Strong enough for an NCAA bid? In the past, the team's combined scores have been a bit too high to warrant a tournament bid. This year, though, the women hope that more consistent low scores will be the ticket to the postseason. The ECAC tournament will provide yet another opporunity for the Bulldogs to prove themselves. In order to make any sort of statement to the NCAA selection committee, Yale will again have to outplay Hartford, this time on unfamiliar territory.

Several golfers agreed that familiarity makes a difference during competitions. "The Yale course is very difficult and knowing different subtleties of the course certainly helps," Brakeman said. "While I don't think that the [ECAC] course is Hartford's regular practice course, they must have played there before, so there is some home advantage to some degree."

But Brakeman knows that Hartford won't be their only competitor. "We have to face teams such as Penn State and James Madison, large scholarship schools." The ECAC contest will also include William and Mary and the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, along with other Ivy teams. "We've only seen Princeton and Dartmouth so far; [Princeton] came in third, but I definitely wouldn't count them out," Fisher said.

Though the competition will be tougher at the ECAC tournament, the Elis have no reason to think that they should not be atop the leader board once again.

By combining strong senior leadership with the play of a talented freshman class, the Bulldogs have already vastly improved on their strong showing of last season. If they continue to perform with consistency, Yale's golfers may have no choice but to remain undefeated.

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