The Mac Weekly

Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Christopher Mitchell Straight Shooter. Jordan Matheson '09 (center) and Coach Martha Nause discuss strategy at last year's MIAC championship. Matheson and teammate Karla Leon '10 are hoping to qualify for nationals this spring.

Frigid conditions last week made the season's first tournaments complicated for Macalester's golf teams. The women played one day less than originally planned and had to relocate on account of the weather from Northfield to Shakopee, a southwest suburb of the Twin Cities. The men, playing at the Wartburg Spring Invitational in Waverly, Iowa, struggled with near freezing temperatures and snow.

Although early in the season, the stakes are already high for two of the women's golfers, Jordan Matheson '09 and Karla Leon '10.

"The big goal is for Jordan and Karla to get to nationals," head coach Martha Nause said. "Right now everything counts."

At last week's tournament, Matheson tied for seventh with a score of 85 in the 38 person contest while Leon finished tied for 13th on a round of 88. The results were decent, but as Matheson notes, "there's always room for improvement," especially considering that anything less than a national tournament berth would be a disappointment for both women. Leon qualified for nationals last year and Matheson was the team's top golfer in the 2007 MIAC championships. With three scheduled tournaments remaining, neither golfer can afford a bad day.

"Individually Karla and I are in the hunt," Matheson said. "If we have a really solid tournament next week, it should mean good things for our chances."

As a team, despite the cold, a course recovering from its winter hiatus, and an unlucky break, Mac women's golf finished in a third place tie with Carleton in the 8-team tournament. Lauren Ballewske '10 suffered a two-stroke penalty when her putt, headed toward the hole, hit the pin after her Augsburg counterpart failed to remove it. The error cost Ballewske her lifetime best round of golf and cost the Scots sole possession of third place.

Despite this setback, Nause was not disappointed with the overall performance. "It was their first tournament of the season on a golf course they'd never seen before," she said. "As a team, I thought we did pretty well." Mac beat St. Benedict's which had been ranked in the top-25 nationally early in the year and played right with Carleton which was ranked in the top-20 in the last coach's poll.

Continued...

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