|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN GOLF MEDIA CONFERENCEApril 20, 2015Todd OehrleinHE MODERATOR: The women's golf team will be in Indianapolis this weekend at The Fort Golf Course. The Badgers finished 6th last year, while Brooke Ferrell finished fourth individually. Coach Oehrlein is here. He will give an opening statement and then take questions. COACH OEHRLEIN: Thanks, Brian. Good afternoon. Just a recap of the season to get things started, really the first word that comes to mind with our team is youth. That's a key piece with what we're doing. Of the nine players we have on our roster, seven of them are freshmen and sophomores. We have had in the fall particularly, every tournament in the fall we had at least one player in the top‑5 that was playing her first collegiate event. There is a lot of excitement and a lot of nerves with that, a lot of really valuable experience. I think they've handled it really well. We right now‑‑ I think the second lowest career scoring average or single season scoring average is going with that youth. So I've been proud of how they've handled that and the experience they've gained has been valuable. There has also been some ups and downs, some inconsistencies with young players with some of that, but I do feel we have had great leadership, it's a great group from a chemistry standpoint. I think they have handled ‑‑ adversity, and things of that nature, has been solid with this group. So we have challenged them. In the 12 years I've been here, we're playing right now hands down the most difficult schedule that we've played in the time that I've been here. I think some of that is coming on the heels of having some success the last couple of years; it's opened up some opportunities into strong fields, strong tournaments. And as a result, our team has been challenged from that perspective. We've put them on some difficult golf courses. The tournament we just came back from, Napa, we played a golf course called Silverado, which is a TOUR golf course, and it's just a great challenge; it's a great test. In golf you start looking at scores, and they're somewhat deceiving, because the level of the golf course impacts that to a great extent, obviously. They all are different. We had two players play remarkably well, really solid, Michelle Cheung and Brooke Farrell played solidly there, and hopefully they will carry that momentum into the Big Ten's. But overall the golf courses we have played, the fields we've been in, have provided some great experience for the players and for the team. Like I said, I hope that pays off as we move into the conference championship and beyond. This year heading down to Indianapolis for our conference championship, we are at a different site than we have played in the past. We're at a golf course called "The Fort" in Indianapolis. It's going to be the first time there for all the teams. Nobody has played it before, so it's a great test. It's a really good golf course, solid layout, all sits in front of you, it's not real tricky or confusing, not a lot of blind shots, just a really solid golf course. I'm very excited to get the team down there and to get that started. I know we're seeded 4th heading into this tournament, so, you know, our expectations are to be ready to play right way.  I think that's a key for us. One of the things that I think has been a challenge for this team is starting fast, making sure you get off to a good start. I would like to see the team get off to a quick start and play real well in that first round, and then as they become more familiar with the golf course, you know, if the pattern holds true they just continue to get better each and every round. That's going to be a key thing, and I think we're looking forward to the event. Q. Talk about your seniors. Both of them rank among the top‑10 in career scoring. Kim is 3rd and Aaren is 9th. COACH OEHRLEIN: Kim and Aaren have been really special players for us. They have done just tremendous jobs throughout their career. In both situations, they both were‑‑ they both played competitive schedules, but they weren't‑‑ I don't know how to say this, they weren't highly recruited. They weren't highly sought after, maybe more of a product of just later development than being way out ahead of the curve. To see the way they have grown and the way they have developed as players and, as you mentioned, both of them are in the top‑10 in our career scoring averages, and they have played in two NCAA Regional Championships already and one NCAA Finals, been part of multi tournament victories. Kim has won as an individual, has an individual tournament victory. They have been special players for our program and what they've done. On top of that, what they've done in the classroom, leadership, chemistry, community service, they really are what we all hope for in our student‑athletes and what we look for. Q. Could you talk about Michelle Cheung's spring season so far? The last tournament she scored the only two eagles out of all of the individuals and she has finished first out of 2 of her 3 competitions? COACH OEHRLEIN: Yeah, Michelle has played great. It's great to have Michelle in the lineup. Michelle is funny, she has had trouble breaking through the qualifying procedures and yet when she has gotten into the tournament she has played fantastic, almost like she is more comfortable in the tournament setting than the qualifying setting. So once she got in there she started to establish her, she is strong, talented, played on the Chinese National team so has a lot of international experience, and it doesn't really surprise me to see her playing the way she has played. She is a very talented player. Interesting story. Those two eagles were both hole outs, and Michelle has actually holed out four times this year, Three times in the spring and four times overall on the season. I mean we maybe hole out from the fairway once or twice for an entire season as an entire team, and she has four already this year, so that's an interesting fact. Q. Could you tell us about Brooke Ferrell's season and Gabby Curtis as well, please? COACH OEHRLEIN: Brooke and Gabby have both played tremendous. Brooke has kept it going from last year. She had a great freshman year and has continued to move into that this year; right now is playing very well. She has grown technically as a player over this year, really has become a little more mature as a golfer out on the golf course and how she executes things and has done a nice job that way. Gabby has come in as a freshman and given us a nice spark. She is very ‑‑ just a very strong player. I think Gabby is 5‑11 and hits it very hard, and just really is a very strong player. Gabby came out this spring and really learned a lot from the fall, worked hard in the off‑season and came out this spring, and I believe she finished fifth in the first invitational at Central Florida, came out firing right away, gave her a lot of confidence, and really Gabby goes into the tournaments right now with the expectation that she is going to play well, and she has a bright future in front of her. Q. You mentioned the solid course. I'm curious, what do you like about it? The fairways, the rough, how much sand the players will have to negotiate or what? COACH OEHRLEIN: I like the fact that it's a championship task from the standpoint that there is going to be demands to the golf shots, but I think everything is fair. I think everything that sits in front of you, and there is also a‑‑ there's‑‑ sometimes some golf courses can maybe punish bad shots, and I just don't see this happening at this place. I think it's a very, very straightforward, very demanding course. I love the green complexes. I think there is a lot of nice undulation, nice size to them but not unfair. You get on the wrong side of some ridges, and if your touch is good, you hit a good putt, you're going to be able to 2‑putt it, still, and that's not always the case. Sometimes you can get into spots where the golf course just can't be managed. I like it; it's good. Q. You follow the success you see girls like Michelle and Brooke having and being so young. Is the best yet to come for these girls over the next few seasons? COACH OEHRLEIN: I hope so. I think they're going to continue to improve, for sure, and I say that based on attitudes, work habits, kind of their passion and love for the game that I really like to see that. So I think they're going to continue to grow as players, and as I mentioned, 7 of the 9 are freshmen and sophomores, and yet it's the second lowest scoring average for a single season that we have had. They have been challenged, some of the finishes may not be‑‑ we may finish 10, 10 out of 15 teams, but when 10 of those 15 are ranked in the top 30 or top 40 in the country, sometimes that finish is deceiving. That's something that the players have to understand a little bit, is that‑‑ let's worry about how we're managing the golf course, how we're playing. Are we improving? Are we getting better? That's something that has been a big focus as we're moving down the stretch, heading into spring. I thought maybe we lost a little bit of that focus coming off the first tournament. We played so well right out of the gate this spring. I think we may have lost that focus just a little bit, but it's been apoint of emphasis certainly moving forward and hope to see some rewards this weekend. THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach? COACH OEHRLEIN: Thank you, everyone. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|