Pacers preparing to host pre-regional
Apr. 20—The Pacers are rolling into their pre-regional tournament on Wednesday, fresh off one of their best performances of the year last week at Lew Wentz Golf Course in Ponca City.
Neither Regan Masterson nor Elisabeth Armstrong thought the played their best rounds at the Big 8 Conference Tournament. Both started off well, but after struggling in the second half of their rounds neither thought they would finish as well as they did.
When all the scorecards had been counted, Masterson and Armstrong were surprised to see their names No. 2 and No. 3 on the leaderboards which earned them all-conference honors.
"I was honestly a little bit surprised because I've had better scores throughout the season and it definitely wasn't my best," Masterson said, "I know I could do better and I was really surprised to see that it came out that well."
The team took home the conference title after shooting a 402 team score, their second lowest and highest finish in a tournament this season.
Masterson shot a 94, three strokes higher than her season low, and finished second. Armstrong finished with a 98 which earned her third place overall, her lowest of the season.
Masterson said she was pleased with how the round was going after the first nine but described her putting coming down the stretch as "disgusting."
Armstrong said she didn't know where she stood after her round, but didn't feel like she played that well either until her final score was tallied.
The team played tournaments on back-to-back days that week and Armstrong said it's possible fatigue was the reason for her poor performance on the second nine.
Armstrong comes from a golfing family with an older brother and father who both play as well.
"They're very proud of me because I've improved a lot this year," Armstrong said. "I think this is the year I've improved the most so they've been really supportive."
Armstrong's improvement has shown in her final scores this season. Last season, in the Pacers only tournament, she shot a 135. This year, she's already posted two scores under 100 including a 99 at Trosper Golf Course.
Enid head coach David Lee said both girls came in with room for improvement but overcame that by coming to practice every day looking to improve.
"They're hard working girls," Lee said. "They come to practice every day and work on different levels of things they know need to get better."
Lee said the girls' performances can be linked to their course management and by being smart about not losing strokes to penalties or three putts.
"They're real cerebral as far as keeping the ball in play," Lee said. "No penalty shots and not very many three putts and we try to really work on those things. They came in as freshman and they've really lowered their scores."
On Wednesday, the Pacers have the difficult task of hosting the pre-regional tournament at Meadowlake's Golf Course. It will serve as a preview for the regional tournament on April 27.
Masterson said the team is excited about playing on their home course in a tournament for the first time but acknowledges that the pressure of hosting can sometimes create more of a challenge.
"It's definitely exciting but it's also super nerve-wracking because there's the pressure of wanting to play well on your home course," Masterson said. "At the same time we've been on the road a lot this last month so we're not getting to play the course as much as we hoped."
Lee said that it's important for his team to try to approach the tournament like every other week and that starts at practice.
"What I want to do is just keep doing what we've been doing the last three or four tournaments," Lee said, "Everything's been positive, they've made so much improvement and they've worked on all areas of their game. So we're not gonna change any formula, that's what they've been doing and that's what they're successful at."
Masri is sports editor for the Enid News & Eagle.
Have a question about this story? Do you see something we missed? Do you have a story idea for Tarik? Send an email to tmasri@enidnews.com.
