The Western Carolina women’s golf team have gone global for the first time in program history.
The Catamounts finished fourth out of 13 teams at the Pan Pacific Collegiate Golf Super League event held at the Sapporo Regent Golf Club.
Individually, two Catamounts finished in the top 15 with junior Elizabeth Lohbauer and sophomore Brie Mapanao both finishing in equal 15th place overall. Junior Kaitlyn Wingnean, who finished equal 27th overall, believes the team achieved success in Japan.
“We were playing the best teams from China and Japan… we did well,” Wingnean said. “Not a lot of them spoke English so it was interesting to play against people and not be able to communicate with them the way you would in the U.S.”
Away from the course, the team also experienced the Japanese culture. “None of us knew how to speak Japanese or had been there before. Going and experiencing it all together was really cool,” Wingnean said.
The Catamount’s break after Japan was extended because the match-play event in Greensboro hosted by North Carolina A&T, for Sept. 25-26, was cancelled.
The team are now preparing for their next tournament at the Jupiter Women’s Invitational on Oct. 9 in Jupiter, Florida.
The coach of the women’s golf team, Courtney Gunter, is pleased with the team and excited for their upcoming tournaments.
“Based on how they played in Japan, and then we have had some really good weeks of practice and still have a few more before our next event, I think we are looking pretty good,” Gunter said.
The Catamounts enters the tournament as reigning champions, topping the leaderboard by seven shots in last year’s event.
