The Eastern women’s golf team placed ninth out of 10 at this year’s OVC Championship, having a 54-hole tournament score of 1,002.

Sophomore Anne Bahr led the Panthers with the team’s lowest score at 241, tying for 32nd.  This has been Bahr’s highest placing in a tournament in the past year.

Bahr continued to decrease her score each round. After her first round score of 84, her second round score of 80 tied her previous best. By the end of round three, she shattered her personal best by golfing a 77.

“I think my nerves settled more as the rounds went on. I was able to become more comfortable with the course,” Bahr said. “Overall in terms of hitting, I was driving the ball consistently, which helped considerably.”

Bahr was followed by junior Chloe Wong, who shot a 245 and tied for 36th.  Junior Madison Burgett tied for 44th with a score of 263. Rounding out the four individual performances was sophomore Hannah Magda finishing 46th with a score of 266.

Due to health related issues in round one, junior Alexandra Pickens was unable to place for her individual score.  However, she was able to compete for the Panthers’ total score the last two rounds. In contribution, she scored a 166.

She scored 83’s in both rounds. However, even with the two rounds of 83, she said nothing was consistent for her.

“Both days I had 37 putts, which is a little high,” Pickens said. “I only hit 15 fairways and 14 greens over two rounds. I had to scramble a lot.”

Since Pickens was missing her greens and fairways, she was playing behind and needed to make it up with her short game.

“I had to try to save bogey and par with my short game,” she said.

After shooting a 78 for her first round score, Wong’s score increased to an 84 the second round, finishing with an 83 on round 3.

“Overall, I’m happy with how I was striking the ball,” Wong said. “I had a tough time getting comfortable on the greens. My putting really let me down this week.”

The Panthers shot a 337 in the first round; however, they decreased their team round score to a 332 on Tuesday the 19th and finished with a 333 on Wednesday the 20th. The OVC Championship was the last tournament of the year for the Panthers.

Going into her senior year, Wong is optimistic about improving her individual scores for next year. As a team, she said the Panthers needs to continue to improve on a couple things.

“We all definitely need to work on our wedge and short game,” she said. “But as coach tells us, we need to improve our mental game on the course.”

Pickens says in preparation for next fall, the team needs to have a better mindset for next year’s tournaments.

“We all hit great shots,” she said. “It’s just a matter of putting everything together to shoot the scores I know everyone on the team is capable of shooting.”

This year’s winner of the OVC Championship was Eastern Kentucky, led by Anna Gleixner who shot a 222, tying her for second individually.

Adam Shay can be reached at 581-2812 or acshay@eiu.edu