The UW-Platteville women’s golf team hosted the first UW-P Invitational since 2003 at Platteville Golf and Country Club Sept. 6 and 7. The Pioneers placed third as a team and senior Michelle Ebert finished seventh individually.

Photograph by Kate Olsen
Sophomore Caitlin Cook lines up her putt on the 10th green at the Platteville Country Club during the UW-Platteville Invitational.

Schools taking part in the invite included UW-Stevens Point, UW-Whitewater, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Superior, UW-River Falls, Ripon College, Carroll College and Viterbo College. UW-P had the opportunity to host the invite after UW-O was unable to host because of course discrepancies and team turmoil, UW-P women’s golf head coach Pete Reif said.

There is a lot of work that goes into hosting the event, and alumni support and the help of the Platteville Country Club staff is important.

“It was nice playing in an invitational at home because there wasn’t a long ride home,” Caitlin Cook, a sophomore communication technologies major, said.

The course length seems to allow for low scoring, but the tightness of the fairways and small greens make Platteville Country Club a difficult and strategic course.

“The greens were quick and the challenging pin placements didn’t make them any easier,” Ebert said. “The course also seemed to get a little windier on the back nine.”

Most teams in the tournament finished with scores 10 to 15 strokes above average, Reif said.

The UW-P women finished the two-day, 36-hole invite third with a total score of 754 behind UW-W’s final tally of 702 and UW-SP took the team tile with a score of 691.

Caitlin Cook finished just outside the top ten shooting a 184, taking 11th place. Kerrie Liske, a freshman majoring in health promotions, finished 13th, shooting a 186. Tricia Pawelski, a sophomore criminal justice major, shot a 204 and finished 24th.

The team was disappointed in their performance, but will look to improve their scores at the UW-W invitational this Saturday and Sunday at Meadow Springs Golf Course in Jefferson.