Editor's Note: The men's and women's golf teams recently completed the fall season, which is one-half of the entire 2003-2004 college golf season. The Post's Laurie Duffy sat down with Ohio Director of Golf Bob Cooley to discuss season results, new faces on the teams and preparation for the spring season.
The Post: Are you pleased with how the freshmen on both the men's and women's teams have played this fall season?
Cooley: I knew we had a couple real good freshmen on the men's team. One of them has played extremely well - Mark Cimarolli. Ryan Siekmann has played pretty good also. I mean, he's averaging 75.37, which is very good for a freshman. And Grant Christman only got to play in one tournament, but he's a good player and will help us, too. On the women's side, we've tried to get Meredith Waterston and Kristen Mautz in the lineup and they've both played good and bad at times. They're going to be very good players; they just need experience in learning about college golf.
The Post: You lost a lot of leadership on the men's side, graduating three seniors, and graduating two seniors on the women's side. Has anyone stepped up into that role?
Cooley: Not any one person (on the men's team) has really stepped forward, and we probably need that a little bit more than what we've had in the fall. On the women's side, it's fine. Cari (Mozingo) and Ashley (McCall) are good leaders and good role models for the rest of the kids. The men - the freshmen are kind of pushing the sophomores and juniors a little bit, so it's made everyone work a little harder. But we probably do need a definite leader on the men's side.
The Post: Now that the fall season is over, what do you do in the off-season?
Cooley: We're going to start lifting weights two days a week. For about two more weeks, as long as the weather stays good, we're going to have them practicing and playing a little bit. We're going to do some filming, some video, so everyone can see where they're at with their golf swings.
The Post: Are you going anywhere warm in the spring?
Cooley: Hopefully it will be warm. The women are going to Arizona. We're going to try a new tournament out there with a lot of MAC schools. It's actually hosted by Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. It's in Phoenix in the beginning of March. We're also trying to get them into a tournament in Florida, but we haven't been able to swing that yet. And then spring break, they're going to go to Pinehurst along with the guys again. That seemed to work out pretty well. The guys are going to Pensacola and Ocala, the two tournaments we played in last year.
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Laurie Duffy
