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Golf teams turn toward MVC tournament

The Bradley women’s golf team competed for the first time in nearly a month at the Jan Weaver Invitational at the par-72 Miller Memorial Golf Club in Murray, Kentucky. The Braves placed sixth in the field of 14 teams last Friday, but did not play the final round on Saturday due to light snow.

Head Coach Mary Swanson said the weather was not a problem on Friday, but the course conditions became an obstacle for the team.

“The golf course was very, very wet and consequently, the bunkers were very, very wet,” Swanson said. “When the course is wet, it’s really important to catch the ball clean, and so clean contact and figuring out [ball positioning is important].”

The Braves finished the weekend at 30-over-par 606. Sophomore Taylor Ledwin led the way in her second top-10 finish of the year with a 4-over-par 148. She erupted for a personal season best of two-under par 70 in the second round.

“The first round, I had a rough patch, but I was able to get myself together and turn it around for the second half of the first round,” Ledwin said. “In the second round, I played a lot better. I had a lot more confidence in my game. I was able to get a few birdies right away and play relaxed the rest of the round.”

Entering the conference tournament this Sunday, the Braves lead MVC teams in an average score per outing of 304.88. Temperatures are predicted to reach around 30 degrees to 40 degrees, but the weather should not cause the team’s positive attitude to waver.

“We are so ready to go,” senior Ally Scaccia said. “We feel very prepared, confident and excited to get after it. We have been doing the right things at practice, and the whole team feels we are better prepared than any other team out there.”

Heading farther down south to the Ryman Hospitality Intercollegiate in Tennessee, the Bradley men’s golf team placed 10th out of a 16-team pool. On Monday and Tuesday, the Braves shot 903, four strokes ahead of 11th-placed Belmont at the par-71 Richland Country Club.

Head Coach Jeff Roche said the competition, which featured nationally ranked No. 77 Lipscomb and No. 80 Maryland, gave the Braves a chance to critically assess themselves.

“We’re still learning golf, IQ-wise,” Roche said. “We really don’t need to do anything different physically. We just need to understand that we’re capable, so we don’t try to do something we’re actually not physically capable of.”

Among the Braves, senior Ethan Brue remained consistent, achieving his sixth top-10 finish of the year with a 5-over-par 218. At the end of the second day, Brue boasted the Braves’ lowest round of the event with a one-under par 70.

The team will make a quick turnaround and duel against No. 13 Illinois tomorrow. Roche said this experience will serve as another beneficial lesson for the team.

“The magnitude of playing a 13th-ranked team is a great opportunity to put ourselves into a situation where we’re going be in this heightened intensity and be able to calm that down and just play what we’re capable of,” Roche said.

Roche said all the team’s challenges and improvements will prepare them thoroughly for a chance to take the MVC Championship title.

“We’ll use [the duel against Illinois] as our prep for conference,” Roche said. “It’s going to be a wide open tournament. There’s a number of teams that’ll have the opportunity to win, so it’s a pretty balanced conference this year.”

The women’s MVC Championship Tournament will start this Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and will continue until Tuesday in Newton, Kansas. The men will face Illinois starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow in Urbana.

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