Rickel Hopes Women's Golf Team Comes Ready To Play
9/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University's women's golf coach Brad Rickel hopes his team "shows up" a little earlier than it has the first two tournaments this season.
After struggling through 36 holes at the season-opening Circling Raven Intercollegiate Invitational hosted by the Bulldogs and at last week's Cougar Cup hosted by Washington State University, the Zags posted solid final rounds. Gonzaga's 303 the final day of the Circling Raven event was the best round on the final day.
But it's the play of his team the first day that has Rickel perplexed.
They'll get another chance Monday and Tuesday at the Rose City Collegiate at Langdon Farms Golf Club in Aurora, Ore., a 54-hole event hosted by Portland State University. Langdon Farms is a 6,080-yard, par 72 layout.
In addition to the host Vikings and Gonzaga, teams competing in this year's tournament include the University of Hawai'i, UC Riverside, Eastern Washington University, Boise State University, the University of San Francisco, Northern Colorado University, Long Beach State University, Fresno State University, Cal State Fullerton, McNeese State University, Seattle University and Weber State University. Gonzaga has seen a majority of these teams in the first two weeks of the season.
The Zags play four straight weeks to open the season, but Rickel's not using that as an excuse as his club faces the third of that four-week stretch.
"It's definitely a challenge, but it's not like we haven't done it before. The freshmen are experiencing it for the first time. I think we're playing so much golf we should be coming into our own," Rickel said. "We definitely had good practices in between and tried to match what we need. I think we should get better every week."
But he knows his team can't continue to play catch-up every week, either.
"We have to stress the importance of the practice round, stress the importance of understanding the golf course before it jumps up and bites you. We've done a good job of understanding the courses, but we haven't done a good job of putting that plan into action until after we understand it was a good plan because of making some mistakes," Rickel analyzed.
"This week we have to have a better practice round and better knowledge going into the first round so we can act accordingly."
He also dismissed the notion a lot of the mistakes have been mental rather than physical.
"I think the mental part comes in when you have to think before you do. Sometimes I think we're too fixated on the pin and too fixated on the middle of the fairway when those two places aren't necessarily where you need the ball to be. I think we have to do a better job of our emotional and mental approach for sure," Rickel said.
Rickel's line-up will have some minor changes for the third straight week. Victoria Fallgren and Alice Kim remain in the top two spots. Tai Jade 'TJ' Kliebphipat, who played as an individual after struggling with her swing in the season opener, is back in the line-up at No. 3. Han Wue is No. 4 and Stephanie Corey, who played her way into the line-up last week at WSU, remains at No. 5. Jessica Howe will play as an individual.
"I think every player on our team is capable of playing in our line-up. It's just going to have to be by who is playing the best at that moment. Jessica didn't quite play at WSU like she is capable of. She knows that. We look for our individual to play good golf again," Rickel said.
For the most part, Rickel has been pleased with the play of freshmen Kim and Wu.
"Both of them have shown they are going to be a force in our program for four years. They have already had some really good rounds. They've also shown they have a few things to learn and the step up to this game at this level involves a lot more emotional, mental and golf course management than it did as a junior player," Rickel noted "They've shown they are going to be big-time college players, but they've also shown they need to be open to learning new things."
