Fitts leads Tigers in first GPAC qualifier

ORANGE CITY, Iowa — Freshman Lauren Fitts shot an 83 to tie for first to help the Dakota Wesleyan University women’s golf team take first at Great Plains Athletic Conference Qualifier No. 1 Tuesday.

Fitts, a Brookings High School graduate, carded a 41 on the first nine and finished with a 42 on the back nine to tie with Northwestern’s Emma Wynja for first. It was her first collegiate golf meet.

“One of my goals this fall coming in was to win a tournament, so I’m excited I did it on my first one,” said Fitts, who carded a 9 on her first hole of the day, a par 5.

After the rough start, Fitts came back and was only 5 over after nine holes. She had four birdies, one par and two double-bogeys on the front half of the course.

“She’s really mature for a freshman,” DWU coach Adam Anderson said. “A lot of people, any golfer, would have given up after a start like that. … I’m very, very pleased with her performance. She was in a good mental state all day, and never got rattled.”

DWU shot a 352 as a team, two strokes better than Northwestern, which finished in second place. There are four GPAC Qualifiers in the year, two in the fall and two in the spring, and the winner earns a trip to the national tournament.

Anderson said his team battled adversity all day, golfing in 35-40 mph winds and temperatures around 90 degrees. After Fitts, DWU’s Chelsea Burback finished fourth with an 87 and Jenna Winckler tied for fifth win an 88.

“We have three of the top five individuals and I feel pretty good about that,” Anderson said. “We beat Northwestern on their home course, and they’re another conference team I think is pretty good this year.”

Talia Peters tied for 13th with a 94 for the Tigers and Natalie Turner was tied for 30th with a 99.

“As a team, this was not our normal scoring,” Anderson said. “But the conditions did not dictate normal scoring.

“For our first tournament, since we didn’t have a warm-up tournament, I’m very happy with how we played given the conditions.”

The Tigers are in action next at the Nebraska Wesleyan Invite, Sept. 16-17 in Lincoln, Neb.

The next GPAC Qualifier is Oct. 3 in Lincoln, hosted by Doane College.

Tags: sports, updates