BY MARK BURNS
Daily Sports Writer
Published October 7, 2008
The Michigan women's golf team is without a true leader for now.
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With just three upperclassmen on the ten-person squad, the Wolverines have been trying to find their go-to players all season.
Michigan coach Kathy Teichert may have found those clutch players in an unexpected place — Skokie, Ill.
The Wolverines finished in third place out of 13 teams with a total of 902 at the Windy City Collegiate Monday and Tuesday in Skokie, riding the heels of freshman Milena Savich, sophomore Min Yean Tan and junior Ashley Bauer.
“I was very pleased with our play this week,” Teichert said. “If we could have passed second, that would've been great. But the way we finished speaks volumes of our players.”
Tan, Savich and Bauer all finished in the top 10 in scoring.
After shooting a poor two-day total of 235 at the Mary Fossum Invitational two weeks ago, Tan kept her composure this week and tallied a three-round total of 221, good enough to tie for fourth place.
“I’ve been too excited in the past,” Tan said. “This week, I finally got it in my head to calm down and play less anxious.”
But Tan wasn't the only Michigan underclassman shooting low numbers. Savich shot a 224 while starting in her third straight tournament for the Wolverines in her young collegiate career.
“She is going to be a really good player for us,” Teichert said. “Not to say that she already isn’t a good player, but she is just going to get better and better. Once she learns how to shape her shots, she’ll be really good.”
The Carmel, Ind., native set herself up nicely with great first and second shots, giving her plenty of opportunities to capitalize from the greens.
Savich carded six birdies over her three rounds, helping her to a ninth-place tie with her teammate Bauer.
Bauer started the tournament with 76 on Monday and then finished with back-to-back 74s, tallying nine birdies over the last two rounds to give her 224.
While the Wolverines shot lower scores than their last tournament, they still had many careless double and triple bogeys.
Teichert has to hope that the young and talented trio of Tan, Savich and Baue continues posting low scores, helping Wolverines to continue their success this season.
