BROOKINGS – Aberdeen Central continued another impressive streak on Thursday, having the medalist at every tournament the Golden Eagles have played so far this season.
Olivia Braun won the individual championship at the Scholten Invitational with an even par 72. Central finished with a team total of 317, two strokes behind O’Gorman.
“Obviously, if you’re going to lose a match do it during the regular season. It’s kind of a reality check and wake-up call to some extent,” said Central coach Kim Zimmerman. “There’s some teams out there that are very capable of playing right with us and even beating us like today. O’Gorman and Mitchell are no doubt two of those teams.”
Zimmerman noted that the players had a few tough holes that proved to be the difference on the day.
“We had some shots today, we had some holes today that we kind of played uncharacteristically, unlike what we have been playing,” Zimmerman said.
Central’s Emma Dohrer was third with a 76, and Kyley Wirebaugh was 12th with an 82.
He noted that Braun was still able to pull out the victory despite not having her best day on the course.
“Playing the way she did today, she wasn’t really pleased with it,” Zimmerman said. “That’s how good she is, come away with a day when you’re not playing your best and still win the tournament. That says a lot for her game and her composure.”
Central has now had the medalist at every tournament, albeit three different players, at every tourney this season. That accomplishment has not gone unnoticed.
“The thing that gets overlooked is there’s some really good players on some of these other teams that post some good scores, just not good enough. That’s a tribute to our girls and a tribute to our team,” Zimmerman said. “That’s a nice accomplishment. It really is. To play throughout the season, you’d think somewhere along the line, somebody would stumble or something, but they just kept their nose to the grindstone. It was nice to see.”
The Golden Eagles will now take a few days to gear up for the Eastern South Dakota Conference Tournament that they will host on Tuesday at Moccasin Creek Country Club.
“Now the bigger picture is in front of us as to what lies ahead and what we need to do,” Zimmerman said. “I think the girls are really going to work hard between now and Tuesday to fine tune their game and get ready for Moc. The nice thing is we can practice out there and play out there, where the other teams can’t.”
To see complete tournament results, click on the following link:
