Hartigan dominates and GV rebounds to finish second

By BRYCE DEROUIN

Updated: October 10, 2012, 5:41 PM

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Senior Ashley Beard follows through a putt. The Women’s team finished 7th in the nation

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It would have been understandable if sophomore Kelly Hartigan was still upset over her recent disqualification and let it affect her play. But that was not the case as Hartigan dominated the field on her way to winning the Bing-Beall Classic.

Hartigan shot a first round 73 ( 1) and then followed that up with a second round even-par 72, which were the two best individual rounds of the tournament. Her 145 ( 1) total was six strokes better than second place.

“I played really well this weekend,” Hartigan said. “I hit the ball well and had a low number. It was a little disappointing last weekend, so I knew I wanted to make up some ground this weekend and fortunately came out with a win and played really well.”

Hartigan was disqualified after she went to tap-in a putt with her bent putter. Out of frustration she kicked her putter after a missed shot, which caused it to bend.

“It was a great rebound from Kelly, coming off a disqualification that upset her,” said head coach Rebecca Mailloux. “That was a great rebound from her to come back and win the tournament and play great.”

The entire Grand Valley State University women’s golf team rebounded well after a disappointing sixth place finish at the Gilda’s Laker Club Laker Fall Invite. GVSU trailed by seven strokes going into the final round after a first round 312 and nearly erased the deficit by shooting a 306 in the second round. But that wasn’t enough as Ferris State University ousted the Lakers by one stroke, finishing the tournament with a team score of 617 and winning the tournament.

“It was a good note to end the fall season on for sure,” Mailloux said. “It was a good all-around team performance. That final round was our low round of the fall. It was definitely a good way to end the season.”

The Bing-Beall Classic was the last meet of the fall season for the GVSU women’s golf team. It was an up-and-down season for the Lakers with senior Ashley Beard, who underwent wrist surgery in the summer, unavailable to play.

“It was definitely a struggle of a fall season with having our senior Ashley out,” Mailloux said. “It was kind of an interesting fall semester. It had its ups and downs. Overall I thought it was good for the team to have a little bit of a struggle. We’re used to going out and dominating and winning a lot of tournaments we play in. I think it was good for them to kind of have to fight for those wins this fall.”

The Lakers will head into the off-season with confidence and momentum. For GVSU, recording their best score of the year on the last day has the Lakers already looking forward to the spring season.

“Playing at Findlay is a pretty tough course, and playing it as well as we did and getting second, all of us left that tournament with a good feeling,” said senior Marni Weinstein, who finished in fourth place and shot a 154 ( 10). “We’re just really excited and we know what we have to work on in the offseason to be as good as we can in the spring.”
bderouin@lanthorn.com

Published October 10, 2012 Sports