Eagle's Eye: An inside report by golfer Tiffany Prats
March 14, 2004
Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – The Spring Season is underway as we try to make it to the NCAA Regional Tournament. We did OK in Arizona, our first tournament of the semester, and then moved on to Orlando to play in the Peggy Kirk Bell Invitational hosted by Rollins College.
The tournament was great. First, Peggy Kirk Bell arrived at the tournament with us. She spent a few hours in the van on the trip to Orlando giving us advice and sharing some wonderful stories. She is a wonderful lady who we could all learn a lot from. She did wonderful things for the LPGA which has helped get it to where it is today. Now at 83 years young she is still in great shape and still loves to be on the course.
We played our practice round on Sunday afternoon which was very long and slow, but it was a beautiful Florida day with not a cloud in the sky.
After the practice round we had dinner at the course with the other 13 teams. Then we had our usual team meeting discussing our gameplan for the week. This time things really seemed different to me. Our entire team seemed really focused and ready to get to work. Usually, we are serious but this time the vibe was different and more intense.
When we got back to the hotel my teammates surprised me with a birthday cake. It was my birthday and I had said all day how I wanted to have cake but I was told no because on trips we eat really healthy. Things have been going great so nobody wanted to break the rule of “no deserts”. In the end a few of us enjoyed a piece of cake and it was wonderful getting to spend my birthday with my team.
The next day started off bright and early. In fact itwas 5:45 am when we received our wake up calls with that cheerful voice recording. Don’t we all just want to throw the phone across the room when that perky voice comes on the line?
The team had breakfast together before heading to the course to get to work. Once, we arrived at the course we all did our usually warm up routines and got focused on the day ahead of us. This day was going to be really long and tiring. We were going to play 36 holes with no break. Before we headed out to our starting holes our team met in front of all the other teams and got pumped up. We did our usually C-A-N-E-S cheer that was louder than I have ever heard it before.
During the round I had no idea how the team stood, I just knew that we were all playing pretty well. At the end of the first round we had shot a 310 which placed us behind James Madison and Rollins College going into the second 18. The next 18 our team came through with a wonderful 298 which moved us into first place by six shots over James Madison. Tina Miller was also leading the field individually by 1. We left the course that day and felt really good about the way we were playing and we just wanted to start the next round. After an early dinner we headed back to the hotel and hit the sack for another early day.
The next day we got back to the course early and went through the same routine as the previous day. Once again during the round I had no idea where I stood for the tournament or how the team was doing. I was the first one done at the end of the round. I shot 73 which was pretty good but I didn’t know how good it would be. I entered the round 2 shots behind Tina Miller and I didn’t know if it would be good enough to catch up or how the rest of the field played. At the end when everyone was in it turned out that we had a 3 way tie for first individually which included Tina, a girl from UNC Greensboro, and myself. We went to a playoff and unfortunately Tina and I both made bogie so the other girl won the playoff with a par. But on the bright side of things our team had held onto the lead and came out with our first win of the season. We had lost a few tournaments early this year by one or two strokes but this time we won by 6. It marked the first time since 1998 that your Miami Hurricanes have won a Team Title.
For all the seniors on the team this was their first team win and it was great to be a part of it. It was the best birthday present ever for me to finish first with my team and tie for first with my teammate.
So now we have a win under our belts and it is time to get going with the rest of the season. We leave again this Sunday for Bradenton for the USF tournament which is being held Monday and Tuesday. I will keep you posted on how our team is playing throughout the rest of the season.
