The Waynesburg University women’s golf team began their spring season at the Grove City Invitational at Grove City Country Club.

The Yellow Jackets ended the tournament tied for ninth out of 10 teams with the freshmen stars of Avery Davis, Allison Wolling, Emmarson Anderson and Leigha Clapper all participating in the tournament. 

Davis led the Yellow Jackets with a final score of 94, 22 over par, and finished 18th out of 55 contestants. Davis finished with an average of 5.40 on the course’s 10 par-fours and had two birdies in her round.  

Davis said she felt very excited about her first performance of the spring season. 

“It felt amazing to get birdies during the first round of the season because it showed such great improvement from the fall season,” Davis said. “In the fall season, I struggled to get pars not even birdies.”

Davis said how she thinks this first match can be a preview for the rest of the matches the Yellow Jackets have coming up. 

“I think it will be a good preview of the spring season because I shot a 94 and I have a lot of room for improvement,” Davis said.

Wolling was right behind Davis in scoring with a 96, 24 over par, finishing tied 21 in the event. Wolling finished the day even on the challenging par-fives.

Wolling said about how she played for the first event since the fall season.

“It was my first event of the spring, thought I played good but could have done better,” Wolling said. “The wind also played a huge factor which caused me to make some mistakes. Now I know what to expect when it is windy.”

Wolling mentioned how excited she is for this spring season and how she thinks this match is going to set herself up for the rest of the season.

“I was really excited to get on the course ever since we had this crazy winter,” Wolling said. “I’ve been practicing in the simulator almost every other day and working on everything about my game. I think this was a good tone setter for myself and for this spring season.”

Anderson completed her round with 42 over par 114 which put her in a place of 46. Anderson averaged a 7.50 on the four par-fives. 

Anderson said herself and the team were very resilient, especially early on. 

“I think I did pretty good. I didn’t hit every ball the best but was able to recover on each hole,” Anderson said. “There were some challenges I had to face during the round such as rain, wind, and my playing partner talking during my swings.”

Anderson plans on showing better scores in the rest of the season.

“This performance I feel serves a baseline score for the season that I hope to improve and lower as the season goes on,” Anderson said. 

Clapper rounded out the Yellow Jackets with a final score of 135, 63 over par, and ended her round with a solo 53 finish out of 55 golfers.

The Yellow Jackets return to the fairways on March 30 when they travel to Ellwood City to compete in the Geneva Spring Opener at Connoquenessing Country Club.