Hornets Prevail Despite Poor Putting

The Saline Hornets girls’ golf team struggled on the greens at Lake Forest Golf Course in their final home meet of the season Wednesday, but the team played well enough to beat Ann Arbor Huron in a dual match, 173-223. The Hornets are 8-0 in the SEC.

The usual faces sat atop Saline’s leaderboard. Karla Gross led the Hornets with a 40 and Emily White came in a few strokes back at 43.  Stacy Cruze’s 44 and Heather Vogt’s 46 rounded out Saline’s scoring; Rachel Hysong and Louisa Antonelli were just outside the top four’s scoring pace with a 47 and 50, respectively. 

As a whole, the team shot eight strokes higher than they have been averaging. Putting was the main culprit behind the sudden upswing in strokes. Gross’ 21 putts raised her score, despite hitting eight greens in regulation, while White’s 22 hampered her game as the day progressed. Only Hysong, who came in with 14 putts, had a good day on the greens.

“We’ve really worked on them, but it seems like the short putts were the ones getting them today,” said head coach Betsy French.

With the conference tournament coming up, the team will travel to Leslie Park Golf Course to practice. The team will take more than the standard six players to give people a chance to earn a spot on the final roster.

“We’ve got one more match, and then we’ve got the conference tournament. The conference champion is determined by the regular season and the tournament,” said French.

Prior to the conference tournament, Saline travels to Lincoln to participate in the SEC Quad against the Railsplitters, Ann Arbor Pioneer and Ypsilanti on Monday, Sept. 26.