The weather stole the spotlight from the Michigan women’s golf team and the field of competition in the two-day Lady Northern Invitational. After unplayable weather conditions pushed back the completion of the second round from Sunday afternoon to early yesterday morning, rain and wind persisted throughout the day at the University Ridge Golf Course in Madison. The poor conditions led to high scores for each of the 15 teams competing in the tournament.

Despite the uncertain conditions, the Wolverines battled through 27 demanding holes yesterday en route to a 10th place finish. Purdue won the tournament with a team score of one-over par 865.

Senior captain Ashley Bauer once again led the way for the Wolverines, posting the team’s lowest score. Bauer’s score of 222 held her just out of the top 10, as she tied for 11th overall.

“Ashley had a good tournament, though I think she was a little disappointed, because I know her expectations are very high and she was trying to win the tournament,” Michigan coach Cheryl Stacy said.

Junior Min Yean Tan and sophomore Meagan Bauer rounded out the top three for the Wolverines, with scores of 232 and 233, respectively.

Most notable in the extended tournament was the lack of sub-300 overall team scores in the final round. As Purdue was the only team to post a score under 300, which was a stark contrast to the opening round, in which golfers played in better weather and five teams posted scores under 300.

“Sometimes, you just have a bad tournament, and it’s one of those things that you have to put behind you,” Stacy said. “But I think all the girls know that they have to work harder to get better. A lot of us need to work on hitting more greens to take off a little more pressure and not have to scramble to get up and down all the time.”

The Wolverines will return to the same course in April for the Big Ten Championships. But before they focus on that, Michigan will turn its attention to Northwestern’s 54-hole Windy City Collegiate on Oct. 5-6. They will travel to Chicago on Sunday in preparation for the two-day tournament.

“This year is just going to be a building year, and we have to be as positive as we can,” Stacy said. “But ultimately, the golfers understand what Michigan’s expectations are, and they know that they are going to have to work harder to get better.”