Sam Curry, currysam@grinnell.edu

The Grinnell women’s golf team won a close meet last weekend, taking home the title in its only home tournament of the year. The Grinnell College Invitational, which took place on Sunday, Sept. 27 at the Grinnell Golf and Country Club, was a tight competition between Grinnell, William Penn University’s “A” and “B” teams and Mount Mercy University, but Grinnell won by just a single stroke.

“We were all sitting in the clubhouse together as the final scores came in and we knew it was close. As soon as the team found out they won, they all celebrated together! Golf is such an individual sport, and it is extremely rare to have great team moments like that,” wrote coach Jennie Jackson in an email to The S&B.

Grinnell shot a collective 324, compared to William Penn “B”’s score of 325. William Penn “A” took third with 328 and Mount Mercy finished fourth with 342.

Jackson also highlighted the performance of Vrishali and Vidushi Sinha, both ’19, who tied for third best individual scores in the tournament with a tally of 77, only one stroke behind the top score. For her performance, Vidushi was named the Midwest Conference Women’s Golf Performer of the Week.

“We can always count on Vrishali and Vidusha for great scores,” Jackson wrote.

Despite her great score, Vrishali was not entirely satisfied with her performance, pointing out that it was her worst score of the season.

“I didn’t play that well, but it was okay, we still won,” she said. 

With the Midwest Conference Championships this weekend in Rockford, Ill., the team is looking to use this momentum from their victory to capture a more prestigious title. 

I think it was a good tournament to have right before the [Midwest Conference Championships],” said Lauren Yi ’18. “It was kind of a confidence builder to have this the weekend before.”

Prior to the tournament, members of the team focused on the preparation process and individual improvement, especially given the two-week gap between this tournament and the previous one. This gave the Pioneers ample time to get fully acquainted with the course.

“We have spent a lot of time on short game, especially putting, and practicing our course from the tournament tee boxes in order to prepare for our home tournament,” Jackson wrote.

The women’s golf team is very young this year, with no upperclassmen on the squad. Therefore, creating a close team dynamic is something the team has made a priority.

“It’s been a game changer for sure. I was a first-year last year coming in with three seniors to look up to. So now that I’ve been in this position already with four freshman, three of whom are international [students], [we are] definitely trying to foster a team relationship early on,” Yi said. “We’ve been spending a lot more time together than would have been expected otherwise.”

Grinnell finishes its season this coming Friday and Saturday in the Midwest Conference Championships. Live audio of the tournament can be found on midwestconference.org.