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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Lady Rebel Linksters Close Out Successful First Year Under Bolger
5/2/2002 | Women's Golf
May 2, 2002
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss women's golf team entered the 2001-02 season with much of the same lineup, but with a new outlook under first-year head coach Meghan Bolger.
Gone were seniors Teresa Brown and Marci Kornegay, who helped lead the team in the previous years. The lineup featured only one senior, Elizabeth Hoffman, and with only two freshmen added to the roster in Nikki Hadd and Brooke Hixon, the Lady Rebels looked to put a similar lineup on the course as the one the previous season.
For a team that went 29-85-1 the season before and only posted seven wins against SEC competition, the prospects of success didn't look bright entering the campaign, but the team saw it as a chance to prove what it could do. The squad took that positive attitude and pushed hard in practice. It paid off as the team more than doubled the win total from the season before and posted an overall winning record, as well as doubled its output against SEC teams.
The Lady Rebels went 70-60-2 overall and 15-31-1 in the SEC.
"I think that says a lot for how much effort the team put into practice every day," said Bolger. "They wanted to be at practice every day and the attitudes were great. It was a very different attitude from the first day they stepped on the course this year.
"This team really wanted to play good golf," Bolger continued. "Golf is such a mental sport that having that mind-set from the start helps success."
The Lady Rebels jumped out of the gates quickly, with a performance at the Mason Rudolph Championships that was disappointing in terms of placement (11th), but exciting because of the promise that each team member showed in being able to improve throughout the season.
The team took the first tournament as a foundation to build on and went right to work, claiming the overall title and shattering team and individual records at the Beacon Woods Invitational in the very next event. Ole Miss claimed the title with a 297-302-286-885. The total score of 885 marked the lowest score in a three-round tournament in the history of the program.
Sophomore Teesha Ash posted the lowest score in a three-round tournament in the history of the program with her 74-73-70-217 to take third place at the Beacon Woods Invitational. It is the best finish of Ash's career and the final round 70 is the low-round score of her career.
"Winning the second tournament of the season, and winning it the way we did was amazing," Bolger said. "To win that tournament by breaking several records and finishing two under par was a great way to win."
The Lady Rebels turned in a second-place performance at the Alabama Capstone Intercollegiate, finishing behind only Tennessee, before closing out the fall season with an eighth-place showing at the Kiawah Island/Palmetto Intercollegiate.
The spring kicked off with Ole Miss facing an even tougher schedule than the fall, with several big name tournaments hosting some of the top teams in the nation. Ole Miss posted top-5 finishes at the UCF Invitational, Tulane Greenwave Intercollegiate and the LSU/Cleveland Golf Classic. The Lady Rebels also tied for 11th at the Suntrust Lady Gator Invitational, took 13th at the Liz Murphey Collegiate and tied for ninth at the SEC Championships to close out the season.
In all, Ole Miss finished in the top 10 of seven tournaments, with five of those tournaments having the Lady Rebels take a spot in the top five.
"I had very high expectations coming into this season," Bolger said. "The experience of watching this team grow and seeing the level of respect the members had was extraordinary. We exceeded expectations more than I hoped and set a solid foundation to build on for the future.
"We played a tougher schedule in the spring and I think we stepped up to meet that challenge," Bolger continued. "We worked hard to make it to an NCAA Regional, and though we didn't make it, we were right on the bubble and made a solid case to be included in the field. The team has learned a lot for the future from this year and knows every stroke is important."
It's a great position to be in for the future, and with only one senior on the team this past year, there isn't much to replace with a solid junior class coming back next season. But replacing Elizabeth Hoffman, the lone senior on this year's team, is not an easy task. Hoffman led the team with a 77.44 stroke average and played in every tournament her three years at Ole Miss. She also posted five top-20 finishes and one top-10 finish on the season.
"Losing only one senior means a lot for what we hope to be able to do next season," Bolger said. "Losing Elizabeth will be tough because she really stepped it up for us this season and did so much."
The Lady Rebels return four rising seniors next season, two of whom played in every tournament this year in Kerrie Davis and team captain Bernadette Luse. Roiann Boisture and Lori Cate battled injuries all season and are expected to be in full swing next fall. Cate played in some tournaments throughout the season. Sophomore Teesha Ash will return as will Hadd and Hixon, both freshmen who played throughout the year. Bolger will also be adding two newcomers to the lineup with signees Laura Evans and Sarah Kate Cousart.
All of this has the future of the Lady Reel program looking bright.
"It should be an exciting summer for us," Bolger said. "We set a good standard for the level of golf that we can play, and expect to play here at Ole Miss. This summer the team will be playing in a lot of national and local events and they are excited. They know that this is when you start building for the next level."
Tournament Score FinishMason Rudolph Championships 311-305-313-929 11 of 14Beacon Woods Invitational 297-302-286-885 1 of 12Alabama Capstone Intercollegiate 337-322-312-971 2 of 17Palmetto Intercollegiate 315-316-307-938 8 of 16UCF Invitational 313-306-617 5 of 10Lady Gator Invitational 307-321-314-942 T11 of 15Tulane Greenwave Classic 330-311-641 5 of 15Liz Murphey Collegiate 321-313-302-936 13 of 18LSU/Cleveland Golf Classic 305-306-307-918 5 of 13SEC Championships 310-314-305-929 T9 of 12