Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Golf Tees Up New Season at Bison Fall Classic This Weekend
9/11/2009 8:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Sept. 11, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bucknell women's golf team launches its opening tee shots for the 2009-10 season this weekend when it hosts its annual fall tournament at the Bucknell Golf Club. The Bison are coming off a sixth-place finish at the 2009 Big South Championship, and they return four of their five postseason starters this year.
Bucknell was one of the nation's youngest teams a year ago, regularly starting three freshmen and a sophomore. That team had plenty of quality moments, and now coach Kevin Jamieson is happy to have a much more seasoned group back in tow.
That squad will get its first action at this weekend's Bison Fall Classic, a 54-hole tournament (36 Saturday, 18 Sunday) also featuring William & Mary, Rutgers, Youngstown State, Columbia, Lehigh, Albany, Robert Morris, Kutztown and McDaniel.
This is the ninth home women's golf tournament Bucknell has staged, dating back to the original event in the spring of 2001. The Bison won their own tournament in the fall of 2006, they were runner-up in the spring of 2002 and 2004, and they have never finished outside the top five. Bucknell has had two medalists in the event, Jess Hetrich in 2002 and Teri Schlang in 2006.
Bucknell's nine-player roster consists of one senior, one junior, five sophomores and two first-year players. Leah Antkiewicz is the senior member of the squad, and she has been a part-time starter throughout her career. Coming off a foot injury that derailed her sophomore year, Antkiewicz started strong last season, shooting a team-best 158 (78-80) at the Bucknell Invitational.
“Leah is our team captain, and you could say she is our wily veteran,” Jamieson commented. “Of all our players she has probably made the biggest swing changes over the summer, but she looks good now heading into the start of the season.”
While Antkiewicz is the oldest player on the team, Jurenovich is the most decorated. Her 81.6 scoring average led the team a year ago, but unfortunately for the Bison she came down with an illness the week of the Big South Championship and had to withdraw after gutting out a first-round 83. As a freshman she tied for eighth at the Big South and also had a top-10 finish at the Rutgers Invitational en route to an 80.2 overall average.
“Katie has really improved her short game,” noted Jamieson. “Her putting and chipping were just average last year, but her improvement in this area alone should take her scores from the 78-79 range down to 75 or 76. On top of that, we have seen her confidence grow, and she is a player that the younger kids can turn to. They can bounce a lot off of her because they really respect her game.”
Minjoo Lee, Kelsey Meybin and Brittany Rendell were all regulars in Jamieson's lineup as rookies last season. Meybin was the team's low Big South finisher (T-16th) with rounds of 78-81-81 and just edged out Lee by a tenth of a point for the low freshman average at 82.7. Lee had the round of the year, a school-record 72 in the final round of the Rutgers Invitational in the fall. That was the first round of even par or better in program history. She finished eighth at that event, and she finished up the spring with an 18th-place Big South finish.
“Kelsey has added more length to her game, which is scary since she was our longest hitter last year,” said Jamieson. “That will allow her to have shorter golf clubs in her hand on the longer courses. She is driving the ball considerably better than last year, and I also think she has a better grasp of her game now. Minjoo's ball-striking has improved greatly since the end of last year. I think that will allow her to see more rounds like the one at Rutgers last year when she broke the school record.”
Rendell began last season on the “B” squad at the Bucknell Invitational, but after just one week had played her way into the team's top five. She posted a top-20 finish at Rutgers and closed the year with a strong 77 at the Big South Championship.
“Brittany looks like she has added length with a new driver, and she has become a much more complete player,” said Jamieson. “She has more tools than last year and is much more consistent than at this time last year.”
Cynthia Iselin and Alex Brown steadily improved throughout their first year in Orange & Blue, but both have been dealing with lingering injuries from their summer schedules leading into this season.
The Bison welcome two quality freshmen in 2009-10. Weston, Conn., native Alana Friedlander comes to Bucknell with a vast array of golf skills, and Jamieson predicts she will qualify for plenty of tournaments this year. Kate Monahan, a native of Port Chester, N.Y., is relatively new to the game and is working with Jamieson on some swing changes this fall.
Many college golfers notice a significant jump from year one to year two, as their confidence grows and they begin to understand the level of commitment and diligence in the practice areas required to be successful at the Division I level. They also get to spend the summer working on the types of shots required to score well on the demanding golf courses that Bucknell visits each year.
“There are very few driver-sand wedge holes in college golf,” said Jamieson. “It takes good practice habits to work on hitting the hybrids and long irons you need out here. But that is why we are so excited about this year. I have a much better understanding of their games, and they have a much better understanding of my expectations of them.”
After hosting their own tournament, Bucknell heads to Princeton's tournament for the first time in four years. Then they will travel to events at Penn State and Richmond before hosting another tournament for the first time at Regents Glen Country Club in York.
“In my travels throughout all of Pennsylvania playing golf, this is probably my favorite course,” said Jamieson of Regents Glen. “It is a links-style course, but it sets up a lot like Bucknell, and we hope to have success there to give us some momentum heading into the spring. We really want to end on a high note. The other tournament will all be a challenge, and we are going to find out quickly how good we are.”
