Women's Golf Heads to Lady Buckeye Invitational
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
April 23, 1999
BACK FROM BREAK: The well-rested Michigan State women's golf team returns to action this weekend in its final tune-up before the Big Ten Championship. The Spartans were off last weekend and return to action this Saturday and Sunday in Columbus, Ohio, at the Lady Buckeye Invitational.
The Lady Buckeye Invitational was held in the fall last year, and the Spartans finished fifth among 13 teams. Meggan Schumaker (11th place, 229 strokes) and Kasey Gant (16th, 231) both finished in the top 20 for the Spartans in Columbus.
This weekend marks the final competition for Michigan State before the NCAA East Regional field is announced on Monday, April 26. The Spartans, who have been in the top five of every tournament this season, appear to be in good shape to make it to the NCAAs for the third time in school history and the first time since 1984.
EYE ON IMPROVEMENT: A look at MSU's head-to-head record shows how much the Spartans have improved from 1997-98 to 1998-99. Last year the Spartans beat 75 teams while losing to 71 (a .514 winning percentage). This season MSU is 93-18, an .838 winning percentage and already an improvement of 18 wins with at least two tournaments to play.
TEAM TIDBITS: Michigan State has been in the top five of all nine tournaments this year ... Kasey Gant has been in the top 20 individually in all nine tournaments this year and in the top 10 seven times ... Meggan Schumaker led the Spartans at the Indiana Invitational two weeks ago, the first time all season that someone other than Gant or Emily Bastel led Michigan State.
Gant (76.7, 2nd) and Bastel (77.6, tied for 4th) both have season stroke averages among the top five in MSU history ... Gant's 68 in the first round of the Big Ten/Big 12 Shootout stands as the best round in the Big Ten Conference this season and the best round in MSU history ... Michigan State boasts three of the eight rounds of 70 or better in the Big Ten this year and seven rounds in the conference's top 28.